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Architects of Fate, by Orison Swett Marden

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Architects of Fate, by Orison Swett Marden
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Architects of Fate, by Orison Swett Marden This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Architects of Fate or, Steps to Success and Power

Architects of Fate, by Orison Swett Marden

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Author: Orison Swett Marden Release Date: May 27, 2007 [EBook #21622] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARCHITECTS OF FATE *** Produced by Al Haines [Frontispiece: Phillips Brooks] "The best-loved man in New England." "The ideal life, the life full of completion, haunts us all. We feel the thing we ought to be beating beneath the thing we are." "First, be a man." ARCHITECTS OF FATE OR, STEPS TO SUCCESS AND POWER

Architects of Fate, by Orison Swett Marden

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A BOOK DESIGNED TO INSPIRE YOUTH TO CHARACTER BUILDING, SELF-CULTURE AND NOBLE ACHIEVEMENT BY ORISON SWETT MARDEN AUTHOR OF "PUSHING TO THE FRONT OR, SUCCESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES" ILLUSTRATED WITH SIXTEEN FINE PORTRAITS OF EMINENT PERSONS "All are architects of fate Working in these walls of time." "Our to-days and yesterdays Are the blocks with which we build." "Let thy great deed be thy prayer to thy God." TORONTO WILLIAM BRIGGS WESLEY BUILDINGS

Architects of Fate, by Orison Swett Marden

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MONTREAL: C. W. COATES HALIFAX: S. F. HUESTIS 1897 Copyright, 1895, BY ORISON SWETT MARDEN. All rights reserved. PREFACE. The demand for more than a dozen editions of "Pushing to the Front" during its first year and its universally favorable reception, both at home and abroad, have encouraged the author to publish this companion volume of somewhat similar scope and purpose. The two books were prepared simultaneously, and the story of the first, given in its preface, applies equally well to this. Inspiration to character-building and worthy achievement is the keynote of the present volume, its object, to arouse to honorable exertion youth who are drifting without aim, to awaken dormant ambitions in those who have grown discouraged in the struggle for success, to encourage and

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stimulate to higher resolve those who are setting out to make their own way, with perhaps neither friendship nor capital other than a determination to get on in the world. Nothing is so fascinating to a youth with high purpose, life, and energy throbbing in his young blood as stories of men and women who have brought great things to pass. Though these themes are as old as the human race, yet they are ever new, and more interesting to the young than any fiction. The cry of youth is for life! more life! No didactic or dogmatic teaching, however brilliant, will capture a twentieth-century boy, keyed up to the highest pitch by the pressure of an intense civilization. The romance of achievement under difficulties, of obscure beginnings and triumphant ends; the story of how great men started, their struggles, their long waitings, amid want and woe, the obstacles overcome, the final triumphs; examples, which explode excuses, of men who have seized common situations and made them great, of those of average capacity who have succeeded by the use of ordinary means, by dint of indomitable will and inflexible purpose: these will most inspire the ambitious youth. The author teaches that there are bread and success for every youth under the American flag who has the grit to seize his chance and work his way to his own loaf; that the barriers are not yet erected which declare to aspiring talent, "Thus far and no farther"; that the most forbidding circumstances

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cannot repress a longing for knowledge, a yearning for growth; that poverty, humble birth, loss of limbs or even eyesight, have not been able to bar the progress of men with grit; that poverty has rocked the cradle of the giants who have wrung civilization from barbarism, and have led the world up from savagery to the Gladstones, the Lincolns, and the Grants. The book shows that it is the man with one unwavering aim who cuts his way through opposition and forges to the front; that in this electric age, where everything is pusher or pushed, he who would succeed must hold his ground and push hard; that what are stumbling-blocks and defeats to the weak and vacillating, are but stepping-stones and victories to the strong and determined. The author teaches that every germ of goodness will at last struggle into bloom and fruitage, and that true success follows every right step. He has tried to touch the higher springs of the youth's aspiration; to lead him to high ideals; to teach him that there is something nobler in an occupation than merely living-getting or money-getting; that a man may make millions and be a failure still; to caution youth not to allow the maxims of a low prudence, dinned daily into his ears in this money-getting age, to repress the longings for a higher life; that the hand can never safely reach higher than does the heart.

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The author's aim has been largely through concrete illustrations which have pith, point, and purpose, to be more suggestive than dogmatic, in a style more practical than elegant, more helpful than ornate, more pertinent than novel. The author wishes to acknowledge valuable assistance from Mr. Arthur W. Brown, of W. Kingston, R. I. O. S. M. 43 BOWDOIN ST., BOSTON, MASS. December 2, 1896. CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

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CHAPTER
I. WANTED--A MAN God after a man. Wealth is nothing, fame is nothing. Manhood is everything. II. DARE Dare to live thy creed. Conquer your place in the world. All things serve a brave soul. III. THE WILL AND THE WAY Find a way or make one. Everything is either pusher or pushed. The world always listens to a man with a will in him. IV. SUCCESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES There is scarcely a great truth or doctrine but has had to fight its way to recognition through detraction, calumny, and persecution. V. USES OR OBSTACLES

CHAPTER

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The Great Sculptor cares little for the human block as such; it is the statue He is after; and He will blast, hammer, and chisel with poverty, hardships, anything to get out the man. VI. ONE UNWAVERING AIM Find your purpose and fling your life out to it. Try to be somebody with all your might. VII. SOWING AND REAPING What is put into the first of life is put into the whole of life. Start right. VIII. SELF-HELP Self-made or never made. The greatest men have risen from the ranks. IX. WORK AND WAIT Don't risk a life's superstructure upon a day's foundation. X. CLEAR GRIT

XII. no backing. XIV. but debt is infinitely worse than all. and future generations will erect his monument." Don't wait for great opportunities. rags. character is greater than any career. hard work. WEALTH IN ECONOMY "Hunger. suspicion. RICH WITHOUT MONEY To have nothing is not poverty. THE GRANDEST THING IN THE WORLD Manhood is above all riches and overtops all titles. are disagreeable.
. Seize common occasions and make them great. contempt." XIII. OPPORTUNITIES WHERE YOU ARE "How speaks the present hour? Act. Whoever uplifts civilization is rich though he die penniless.CHAPTER
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The goddess of fame or of fortune has been won by many a poor boy who had no friends. or anything but pure grit and invincible purpose to commend him. XI. unjust reproach. cold.

My eyes and ears are revolted by any neglect of the physical facts.
WANTED--A MAN. unimpassioned. Where is the man who will save us? We want a man! Don't look so far for this man. it is I. and know.--ALEXANDRE DUMAS. How to constitute one's self a man? Nothing harder. if one wills it. All the world cries." Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem. men: Not systems fit and wise. . impossible ghost. . "Wanted. and see now. whereof our nerves are scant: More life and fuller. Not wealth in mountain piles. men.
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CHAPTER I. if one knows not how to will it.
. Not faiths with rigid eyes. if ye can find a man.--it is you. and seek in the broad places thereof. the limitations of man. nothing easier." I do not wish in attempting to paint a man to describe an air-fed.--JEREMIAH. "'Tis life. You have him at hand. This man. it is each one of us! .CHAPTER I. Not even the potent pen: Wanted. not death for which we pant! 'Tis life. Not power with gracious smiles. that we want.--EMERSON.

every calling. with a matchless hand. sends forth her nobly born. The fine adjustment of the existing elements. O men.
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But nature. And laughs the paltry attributes of wealth and rank to scorn. then no gift need be bestowed on him." says Emerson. every occupation. where the well-mixed man is born with eyes not too dull." The world has a standing advertisement over the door of every profession."
. "Hear me. he said scornfully: "I called for men. "In a thousand cups of life." Wanted. "only one is the right mixture. half divine. a man who has the courage of his convictions. and not too susceptible. and sought in vain. with fire enough and earth enough. when a crowd collected around him. not pygmies." and." Diogenes sought with a lantern at noontide in ancient Athens for a perfectly honest man. half human. capable of receiving impressions from all things. In the market place he once cried aloud. "Who can make a gentleman like mine?" ELIZA COOK. who is not afraid to say "No. nor too good. And cries exulting." though all the world say "Yes. a man who will not lose his individuality in a crowd. He brings his fortune with him. She moulds with care a spirit rare.CHAPTER I. "Wanted--A Man.

who is not a coward in any part of his nature. A thousand pulpits vacant in a single religious denomination. of the largeness of the opportunities of the age. education and culture. discipline and drill. is a sufficient indication. warp. who has not sent all the energies of his
. Wanted. and scour in vain. who is not cursed with some little defect or weakness which cripples his usefulness and neutralizes his powers. a man who is well balanced. a man of courage. a man who sees self-development. Wanted. cripple. or mutilate his manhood. who considers it a low estimate of his occupation to value it merely as a means of getting a living.CHAPTER I. Wanted. in his occupation. a man who. who will not allow the over-development of one facility to stunt or paralyze his other faculties. and not one-sided in his development. though he is dominated by a mighty purpose. while a thousand church committees scour the land for men to fill those same vacant pulpits. and also of the crying need of good men. Wanted. in one direction at least. will not permit one great faculty to dwarf. a man who is larger than his calling. character and manhood.
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Wanted. a thousand preachers standing idle in the market place. Wanted. a man who is symmetrical.

a man who is broad. sensitive. magnanimous. is full of life and fire. Wanted." God calls a man to be upright and pure and generous. whose nerves are brought to their acutest sensibility. who regards his good name as a priceless treasure. The whole world is looking for such a man.CHAPTER I. yet it is almost impossible
. liberal. whether of nature or of art.
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being into one narrow specialty. but whose passions are trained to heed a strong will. whose eyes are alert. Wanted. broad. whose hands are deft. and allowed all the other branches of his life to wither and die. microscopic. true. The world wants a man who is educated all over. a man who mixes common sense with his theories. to hate all vileness. and to respect others as himself. every-day life. Although there are millions out of employment. who has learned to love all beauty. who does not take half views of things. whose heart is tender. the servant of a tender conscience. penetrating. whose brain is cultured. but he also calls him to be intelligent and skillful and strong and brave. a man "who. incisive. no stunted ascetic. who does not let a college education spoil him for practical. Wanted. keen. broad. a man who prefers substance to show. deep.

When I have done with him. the pulpit. says: "According to the order of nature.
." Rousseau. "I can't. in his celebrated essay on education. Every profession and every occupation has a standing advertisement all over the world: "Wanted--A Man. nor a divine." "Get up higher. a lawyer." some one said.
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to find just the right man in almost any department of life. Fortune may remove him from one rank to another as she pleases. or the bar. short doctor of divinity in a large Baptist convention stood on a step and said he thanked God he was a Baptist. it is true he will be neither a soldier." he replied.CHAPTER I." But there is something higher than being a Baptist. It matters little to me whether my pupil be designed for the army. Nature has destined us to the offices of human life antecedent to our destination concerning society. The audience could not hear and called "Louder. their common vocation is the profession of humanity. To live is the profession I would teach him. and whoever is well educated to discharge the duty of a man cannot be badly prepared to fill any of those offices that have a relation to him. he will be always found in his place. Let him first be a man. men being equal. "To be a Baptist is as high as one can get. and that is being a man." A little.

or as boys do when gliding over fields of ice. It is the overflowing fountain. not. is he rich? is he committed? is he well-meaning? has he this or that faculty? is he of the movement? is he of the establishment? but is he anybody? does he stand for something? He must be good of his kind. Only he is healthy who exults in mere animal existence. When Garfield was asked as a young boy. that gives life and beauty to the valley below. I must make myself a man. but to train a man. To endure the strain of our concentrated civilization. whose very life is a luxury.CHAPTER I." Montaigne says our work is not to train a soul by itself alone. "what he meant to be.
. who feels a bounding pulse throughout his body. if I do not succeed in that. who feels life in every limb. One great need of the world to-day is for men and women who are good animals. not the one half full. Talleyrand's question is ever the main one. all that the common sense of mankind asks. all that State Street. I can succeed in nothing. Mere absence of disease is not health. as dogs do when scouring over the field." he answered: "First of all. They must have a robustness of health. nor a body by itself alone. the coming man and woman must have an excess of animal spirits. That is all that Talleyrand.
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As Emerson says.

for ten guineas. mutton.CHAPTER I. "I am convinced that digestion is the great secret of life. one day." "I don't know how great men you may be. "Nephew. the artist. came into the room. pie crust. was with Sir Godfrey Kneller. turned out into the world saplings instead of stalwart oaks.
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Pope. the poet. virtue and talents. all muscles and bones. and that character. whose object is to make stalwart. leaning instead of erect. animated with the bounding spirits of overflowing health? It is a sad sight to see thousands of students graduated every year from our grand institutions. a Guinea slave-trader." What more glorious than a magnificent manhood. and affect them more powerfully with my instruments of torture than Timotheus could do formerly with his lyre. independent. I have often bought a much better man than either of you. helpless instead of self-supporting." Sydney Smith said. "but I don't like your looks. when the latter's nephew." said the Guinea man. "you have the honor of seeing the two greatest men in the world. and rich soups." said Sir Godfrey. "memory-glands" instead of brainy men. weak instead of strong. self-supporting men. sickly instead of robust. "So many promising
. I have often thought I could feed or starve men into virtues or vices. and qualities are powerfully affected by beef.

snarling.
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youths. A peevish. As we stand upon the seashore while the tide is coming in.CHAPTER I.
. robust. Nature too demands that man be ever at the top of his condition. a demand that man shall come up to the highest standard. ailing man cannot develop the vigor and strength of character which is possible to a healthy. and for some time none that follows comes up to its mark. and there is an inherent protest or contempt for preventable deficiency. showing that Nature has not lost her ideal. The giant's strength with the imbecile's brain will not be characteristic of the coming man. so now and then there comes a man head and shoulders above his fellow-men. and never a finished man!" The character sympathizes with and unconsciously takes on the nature of the body. Man has been a dwarf of himself. then recedes. but a higher type of manhood stands at the door of this age knocking for admission. and after a while even the average man will overtop the highest wave of manhood yet given to the world. one wave reaches up the beach far higher than any previous one. but after a while the whole sea is there and beyond it. jolly man. There is an inherent love in the human mind for wholeness.

but the strength and the virtues of other types of men. He will be self-centred. studying the fairest points of beautiful women. here a grace and there a turn of beauty. His whole character will be impressible. Tough timber must come from well grown. The beauty of the world. education. in action how like an angel. can be fashioned into a piano or an exquisite carving. and will respond to the most delicate touches of nature. So through discipline. Such wood can be turned into a mast. getting here an eye. What a piece of work--this coming man! "How noble in reason.CHAPTER I. But it must become timber first.
. How infinite in faculties. In form and motion how express and admirable. equipoised. moral. and ever master of himself. experience." The first requisite of all education and discipline should be man-timber.
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Apelles hunted over Greece for many years. in apprehension how like a god. sturdy trees. He will be a man raised to the highest power. the sapling child is developed into hardy mental. So the coming man will be a composite. He will absorb into himself not the weakness. not the follies. Time and patience develop the sapling into the tree. The paragon of animals. for his famous portrait of a perfect woman which enchanted the world. many in one. there a forehead and there a nose. His sensibility will not be deadened or blunted by violation of nature's laws.

. that every promise he makes shall be redeemed to the letter. if he lets two or three go to protest. public confidence will be seriously shaken. that if they continue to go to protest. he would. that he must not deviate a hair's breadth from the truth and right. if he should hold his reputation as a priceless treasure. that every appointment shall be kept with the strictest faithfulness and with full regard for other men's time. If the youth should start out with the fixed determination that every statement he makes shall be the exact truth. his bank of character will be suspected.
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physical timber. his reputation will be lost and confidence in him ruined. feel that the eyes of the world are upon him. that if he lets a note go to protest. according to his individual reputation for honor and veracity. come to have almost unlimited credit and the confidence of all. What an aid to character building would be the determination of the young man in starting out in life to consider himself his own bank. like George Peabody. if he should take such a stand at the outset. that his notes will be accepted as good or bad. and will pass current everywhere or be worthless. and would have developed into noble man-timber.CHAPTER I.

within arm's length of what is not your own.
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What are palaces and equipages. to walk and live. or to disturb the same. And reared the dwelling of his thought so strong As neither fear nor hope can shake the frame Of his resolved powers. or an ocean with his commerce. and no man should require more. from whence he may The boundless wastes and wilds of man survey. What a fair seat hath he. compared with conscious rectitude. with a bosom that never throbs with the fear of exposure. Said Jean Paul Richter: "I have made as much out of myself as could be made of the stuff. "He that of such a height hath built his mind.--this is to be a man. and can walk without crutches or a guide. unseduced. with a heart that might be turned inside out and disclose no stain of dishonor? To have done no man a wrong." [Lines found in one of the books of Beecher's Library. nor all the wind Of vanity or malice pierce to wrong His settled peace.] A man is never so happy as when he is totus in se. what though a man could cover a continent with his title-deeds. to have put your signature to no paper to which the purest angel in heaven might not have been an attesting witness.CHAPTER I. with a face that never turns pale at the accuser's voice. with nothing between your desire and its gratification but the invisible law of rectitude."
. as when he suffices to himself.

No: men. Men who possess opinions and a will. Men who have honor--men who will not lie. true faith and ready hands: Men whom the lust of office does not kill. With powers as far above dull brutes endued In forest. great hearts. Tall men sun-crowned. God give us men. or den. What constitutes a state? Not high-raised battlement or labored mound.
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Man is the only great thing in the universe.
. Men who can stand before a demagogue And scorn his treacherous flatteries without winking. and in private thinking. rich navies ride. But know their rights. All the ages have been trying to produce a perfect model. Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned.CHAPTER I. A time like this demands Strong minds.-. who live above the fog In public duty. high-minded men. ANON. dare maintain. As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude. WILLIAM JONES. Thick wall or moated gate. Where. Not starred and spangled courts. brake. and knowing. Not bays and broad-armed ports. The best of us are but prophecies of what is to come. laughing at the storm. Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy. Only one complete man has yet been evolved.Men who their duties know. Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain. Prevent the long-aimed blow.

. which makes a man! YOUNG. modest. yet so wise. Admit the boundless theatre of thought From nothing up to God . deferent. Yet softly mannered.
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Open thy bosom. true. And tender-hearted." In speech right gentle. princely of mien.
. manly. . "The wisest man could ask no more of fate Than to be simple.CHAPTER I. set thy wishes wide. And let in manhood--let in happiness. modest. though of fearless blood. EDWIN ARNOLD.

The Spartans did not inquire how many the enemy are. And it soft as silk
. but where they are. like a perfumed Paris.--AGIS II. in the field to die.--PLAUTUS. shall find a stubborn foe.--SHAKESPEARE. let's do it after the high Roman fashion. No great deed is done By falterers who ask for certainty. Fortune befriends the bold.--BYRON. what's noble. LONGFELLOW. and make death proud to take us. Who conquers me. Tender handed stroke a nettle. GEORGE ELIOT.
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CHAPTER II. And it stings you for your pains. Courage in danger is half the battle. Than.
DARE.CHAPTER II. like Hector. Let me die facing the enemy. Grasp it like a man of mettle. Better.--BAYARD. turn and fly. What's brave.--DRYDEN.

Shows softness in the upper story. To stand unchained. And fear to do nothing save what is wrong. as an overwhelming force of Russian cavalry came sweeping down. ay. But the true glory is resignation to the inevitable. We make way for the man who boldly pushes past us. and let the fire creep up to the heart.
. men! Every man must die where he stands!" said Colin Campbell to the Ninety-third Highlanders at Balaklava. PHEBE CARY. Soft-heartedness. LOWELL. or sail with God the seas. W. O friend. held only by the higher claims of duty.--this is heroism.--BOVÉE. with perfect liberty to go away. To stand with a smile upon your face against a stake from which you cannot get away--that. never strike sail to fear. ROBERTSON. Man should dare all things that he knows is right.--F. "Steady. is heroic. Come into port grandly. no doubt. Sir Colin! we'll do that!" was the cordial response from men many of whom had to keep their word by thus obeying.
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remains. AARON HILL. "Ay.CHAPTER II. in times like these.--EMERSON.

"The Commons of France have resolved to deliberate. "No. sir. who have neither place. To gain or lose it all. and again to dare. 1789. and that we will not be
. voice. June 23. and you. who cannot be recognized as his organ in the National Assembly." shouted a captain at the battle of the Alma. "We have heard the intentions that have been attributed to the king. "bring up the men to the colors.--you. when an ensign maintained his ground in front." "To dare.--you are not the person to bring to us a message of his. nor right to speak. That dares not put it to the touch." was Danton's noble defiance to the enemies of France." said Mirabeau to De Breze.CHAPTER II. Go.
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****** [Illustration: COMMODORE PERRY] "We have met the enemy and they are ours." cried the ensign. and without end to dare. say to those who sent you that we are here by the power of the people." "He either fears his fate too much Or his deserts too small. who brought an order from the king for them to disperse." ****** "Bring back the colors. although the men were retreating.

CHAPTER II.--"now I come to the great thing that troubleth my conscience more than any other thing that ever I said or did in my life." ended his address to the hushed congregation before him. I have sworn to return. I still have the spirit of a Roman. he calmly replied: "Have you resolved to dishonor me? Torture and death are awaiting me. Let the gods take care of the rest. but what are these to the shame of an infamous act. "Now. It is my duty. which here I now renounce and refuse as things written by a hand contrary to the truth which I
. The moral cowardice which had displayed itself in his miserable compliance with the lust and despotism of Henry displayed itself again in six successive recantations by which he hoped to purchase pardon. Mary at Oxford on the 21st of March. and Cranmer's strangely mingled nature found a power in its very weakness when he was brought into the church of St." When the assembled senate of Rome begged Regulus not to return to Carthage to fulfill an illegal promise. or the wounds of a guilty mind? Slave as I am to Carthage. to repeat his recantation on the way to the stake.
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driven hence. save by the power of the bayonet. But pardon was impossible." The courage which Cranmer had shown since the accession of Mary gave way the moment his final doom was announced. and that is the setting abroad of writings contrary to the truth.

I'd fight." and holding it steadily in the flame. who were coming to burn the vessels in the harbor and destroy the town. Think of uncle's new boat and the sloop! And how hard it is to sit here and see it all. How still it is in the town! There is not a man to be seen. Mass. And." "This was the hand that wrote it. they are hiding till the soldiers get nearer. "therefore it shall suffer first punishment. if it might be. if I were only a man!" exclaimed Rebecca Bates. and look at their guns!" and she pointed to five large boats.
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thought in my heart. "then we'll hear the shots and the drum. a young visitor. a girl of fourteen. "See what a lot of them the boats contain." "The drum!" exclaimed Rebecca. "how can they use it? It is here. for if I come to the fire it shall be the first burned. forasmuch as my hand offended in writing contrary to my heart. "I'd use father's old shotgun--anything. Father and uncle are in the village and will do all they can.." "Oh." "Oh. filled with soldiers in scarlet uniforms. and not lift a finger to help. Father brought it home last night to mend. See! the first boat has reached
. and written for fear of death to save my life. during the War of 1812. "What could you do?" asked Sarah Winsor." said Rebecca. as she looked from the window of a lighthouse at Scituate." he again exclaimed at the stake.CHAPTER II. my hand therefore shall be the first punished." said Sarah. and saw a British warship anchor in the harbor. "I don't care. "he never stirred nor cried till life was gone.

The British paused in their work of destruction. and. and the men sprang through the undergrowth to learn their cause. "Oh. she will jump into the river. but a man in stature and bearing. sir.CHAPTER II. which weighed anchor and sailed away as fast as the wind would carry her. The Americans in the town thought that help had come from Boston. squeak. Where is that drum? I've a great mind to go down and beat it." said one of the men who was holding her. rub-a-dub-dub." As flames began to rise from the sloop the ardor of the girls increased. "and the rapids would dash her to
. They found the drum and an old fife. The cries were repeated in quick succession. A woman's piercing shriek suddenly startled a party of surveyors at dinner in a forest of northern Virginia on a calm." went the fife." exclaimed the woman as she caught sight of a youth of eighteen. and "squeak. and.--my poor boy is drowning." went the drum. sunny day in 1750. Bates. "you will surely do something for me! Make these friends release me. slipping out of doors unnoticed by Mrs. squeak." they scrambled into their boats and rowed in haste to the warship. Oh! they are going to burn her. and rushed into boats to attack the redcoats. and they will not let me go!" "It would be madness. My boy.
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the sloop. We could hide behind the sandhills and bushes. "Rub-a-dub-dub. soon stood behind a row of sandhills. when the fife began to play "Yankee Doodle.

when some stronger eddy would toss it from him. but he had reappeared the second time. "Thank God. Twice the boy went out of sight. plunged into the roaring rapids. The youth redoubled his exertions. even in a canoe.
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pieces in a moment!" Throwing on his coat. at sight of part of the boy's dress. One final effort he makes. my darling boy! How could I leave you?" But all eyes were bent upon the youth struggling with strong heart and hope amid the dizzy sweep of the whirling currents far below. the child is held aloft by his strong right arm. and anon a whirlpool would drag him in. Now it seemed as if he would be dashed against a projecting rock. The rush of waters here was tremendous. "there he is! Oh. the youth sprang to the edge of the bank. my boy. and then. lest he should be dashed to pieces. he will save my child!" cried the mother. and all rushed to the brink of the precipice. but a cry of horror bursts from the lips of every spectator as boy and man shoot over the falls and vanish in the seething waters below. from whose grasp escape would seem impossible. Three times he was about to grasp the child.CHAPTER II.
. over which the water flew in foam. although frightfully near the most dangerous part of the river. scanned for a moment the rocks and whirling currents. and no one had ever dared to approach it.

" said a phrenologist. "He will do great things for you in return for this day's work. was one of the most terrible on record." The youth was George Washington. which recoiled and wavered in expectation of an explosion. he met the allies at Arcis." replied the Iron Duke. Napoleon. A live shell having fallen in front of one of his young battalions. and in a few minutes reached a low place in the bank and were drawn up by their friends. on an Indian field. "Your Grace has not the organ of animal courage largely developed.
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"There they are!" shouted the mother a moment later. "See! they are safe! Great God. and the blessings of thousands besides mine will attend you. but still alive. to reassure them. "God will give you a reward. who was examining Wellington's head. I thank Thee!" And sure enough they emerged unharmed from the boiling vortex. in a delirium of joy. and the youth almost exhausted. "and but for my sense of duty I should have retreated in my first fight. the boy senseless. spurred his charger toward the instrument of destruction." solemnly spoke the grateful woman.CHAPTER II. In the reverses which followed Napoleon. "You are right." That first fight. and was blown up. waited unshaken for the explosion. Rolling in the dust with
. made him smell the burning match.

and continued to brave the grape-shot. who dropped his weapons. then. The officer did not dare to approach him.
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his mutilated steed. who was then ten years old. "Call me." said Jackson. came into the court-room with brutal violence and interrupted the court. and that if the train. Thereupon she ran out upon the track to
. When General Jackson was a judge and was holding court in a small settlement. discovered that a trestle was on fire. Jennie Carey." said the judge. While a train on the Pan Handle Railroad. entered it a dreadful wreck would take place. "Call a posse. and with his eagle eye actually cowed the ruffian. "There was something in his eye I could not resist. The judge ordered him to be arrested." One of the last official acts of the late President Carnot. and rising without a wound amid the plaudits of his soldiers. a border ruffian. walked straight up to the man. and to fly into the thickest of the battle. of France. "this court is adjourned for five minutes. a murderer and desperado. having on board several distinguished Frenchmen." But they also shrank in fear from the ruffian." He left the bench. afterwards saying. which was nearly due. who lives in Indiana. was the sending of a medal of the French Legion of Honor to a little American girl. he calmly called for another horse.CHAPTER II. was bound to Chicago and the World's Fair. "and arrest him.

Then she took off her red flannel skirt and. you see they couldn't stop to bother with us because they had to take the fort. waved it back and forth across the track. with a babe at the breast. After the battle of Fort Donelson.CHAPTER II. wherever they may be found. the wounded were hauled down the hill in rough board wagons. when the train came in view. When they returned to France. On board of it were seven hundred people. was in Damietta. When they took it we all forgot our sufferings and shouted for joy." Louis IX. Louis. He said. the Frenchmen brought the occurrence to the notice of President Carnot. and the train stopped. It was seen. had lain a long time and was neglected. many miles away. of France was captured by the Turks at the battle of Mansoora. during the Seventh Crusade. even to the dying. and pressed the garrison so hard that it was decided to capitulate. and his wife Marguerite. The Infidels surrounded the city. The queen summoned the knights. with both arms and both legs shattered. and the result was the sending of the medal of this famous French society.
34
a place where she could be seen from some little distance. the purpose of which is the honoring of bravery and merit. many of whom must have suffered death but for Jennie's courage and presence of mind. One blue-eyed boy of nineteen. and most of them died before they reached St. "Why. and told
.

And a deepening murmur told of men Roused to a loftier mood. She went to the council. and brave men's wives. the Spartans in council decided to send their women to Crete for safety. In consternation." They hurried to the walls and worked all night. But the women met and asked Queen Archidamia to remonstrate. We are ready to do and dare. aiding the men in digging trenches. And string your bows with our hair. and quietly pitched his tents before Laconia.CHAPTER II. and told the men that their wives did not care to live after Sparta was destroyed. they vowed to defend their queen and the cross to the last. "We are brave men's mothers.
35
them that she at least would die in armor upon the ramparts before the enemy should become masters of Damietta. not anticipating resistance. "Before her words they thrilled like leaves When winds are in the wood. his repulse was so emphatic that he withdrew
. Damietta was saved." Grasping lance and shield. Pyrrhus marched to Sparta to reinstate the deposed Cleonymus. When Pyrrhus attacked the city next day. sword in hand. We are ready to man your walls with our lives.

"That we shall presently see.CHAPTER II. General Alva and Prince Henry of Brunswick. He wrote to Catherine. invited themselves. Just as the guests were seated at a generous repast. who had no choice but to ratify so delicate a request from the commander of an army.
. Charles V. Countess Dowager of Schwartzburg. General Alva told her that such was the custom of war. and armed men took the places of the waiters behind the chairs of the guests. Henry changed color. she bolted and barred all the gates and doors of the castle.
36
from Laconia. to breakfast with the Countess. by a messenger sent forward. and returned to the banquet to complain of the breach of faith. on his return to Swabia after the battle of Muehlburg. as God lives. then. with his sons. as the best way out of a bad scrape. promising that her subjects should not be molested in their persons or property if they would supply the Spanish soldiers with provisions at a reasonable price. Quietly arming all her retinue. On approaching Eudolstadt. prince's blood for oxen's blood!" The doors were opened. the Countess was called from the hall and told that the Spaniards were using violence and driving away the cattle of the peasants. of Spain passed through Thuringia in 1547. "my poor subjects must have their own again. or." said Catharine. adding that such trifling disorders were not to be heeded.

When the consul shouted that the bridge was tottering. Dead stillness fell upon the Tuscans. so deep that his clear. saying that the order had been obeyed. and all damages settled satisfactorily. Lartius and Herminius sought safety in flight. the single champion of his country and liberty. Ill could the struggling colony spare him at that time. and dared the ninety thousand to come on. so astonished were they at the audacity of the Roman. between which rolled the Tiber. He first broke the awful silence. did his enemies hurl their showers of arrows and javelins. did the armed waiters leave. and promising that Alva should order the cattle restored at once. and ended by praising the splendid acting of his hostess. dexterously warding off the
.
37
laughed loudly. when the powerful King Powhatan had decreed his death. But Horatius strode still nearer the foe. strong voice could be heard by thousands in both armies. The Countess then thanked her guests for the honor they had done her castle. Not until his words were drowned by the loud crash of fiercely disrupturing timbers. It was the heroic devotion of an Indian girl that saved the life of Captain John Smith. and the sullen splash of the dark river. Then. and they retired with protestations of their distinguished consideration.CHAPTER II. as he denounced the baseness and perfidy of the invaders. Not until a courier returned.

Sailing onward many days. or the land of flat stones. on account of which he called the country Markland.
." said Eric the Red. and. Sailing onward. he came to a low. they spent many months.. a barren. stands. The voyage was successful. they came to an island which they named Vinland on account of the abundance of delicious wild grapes in the woods. sailed southward in search of the unknown shore upon which Captain Biarni had been driven by a storm. This was in the year 1000. rugged plain. but his young son Leif decided to go. moored on the coast of Greenland. when his horse slipped and fell on the way to his ship. "It is a bad omen. The first land that they saw was probably Labrador. with a crew of thirty-five men. he swam in safety to Rome. I. Here where the city of Newport. he plunged into the Tiber. and then returned to Greenland with their vessel loaded with grapes and strange kinds of wood. in readiness for a voyage of discovery. level coast thickly covered with woods. Although stabbed in the hip by a Tuscan spear which lamed him for life. R." So he returned to his house. and no doubt Eric was sorry he had been frightened by the bad omen. while sailing in another Viking ship two or three years before.
38
missiles with his shield. "Ill-fortune would be mine should I dare venture now upon the sea. probably the modern Nova Scotia.CHAPTER II. Leif called this country Heluland.

Without a word or a look of reproach. counted by seconds only. in the face of the Austrian batteries. Forward again. and his aids and generals rushed to his side. and the valiant grenadiers were appalled by the task before them. and a quick run. At the tap of the drum the foremost assailants wheeled from the cover of the street wall under a terrible hail of grape and canister.
39
May 10. Behind them were six thousand troops. carried the column across two hundred yards of clear space. with a battalion of three hundred carbineers in front. The contrast between Napoleon's slight figure and the massive grenadiers suggested the nickname "Little Corporal. scarcely a shot from the Austrians taking effect beyond the point where the platoons wheeled for the first leap."
.CHAPTER II. Fourteen cannon--some accounts say thirty--were trained upon the French end of the structure. this time over heaps of dead that choked the passage. Napoleon placed himself at their head. and their supports fled in a panic instead of rushing to the front and meeting the French onslaught. and attempted to pass the gateway to the bridge. the column staggered and reeled backward. 1796. This Napoleon had counted on in making the bold attack. Napoleon carried the bridge at Lodi. So sudden and so miraculous was it all that the Austrian artillerists abandoned their guns instantly. The front ranks went down like stalks of grain before a reaper. Napoleon massed four thousand grenadiers at the head of the bridge.

Two Indians had been captured by a party of white pioneers and hanged for theft. He warned his companions that they must be ready to leave camp at a moment's notice. Retaliation for this outrage seemed indispensable.CHAPTER II. When Stephen of Colonna fell into the hands of base assailants. placing his hand upon his heart. From his headquarters at Vancouver he had gone south to the Columbia River with two companions. he rode boldly into the Indian village. About thirty chiefs were holding council. The chiefs pondered long." was his bold reply. McClellan was led into the circle. One evening he received word that the chiefs of the Columbia River tribes desired to confer with him. and could understand every word spoken in the council. From the messenger's manner he suspected that the Indians meant mischief. Mounting his horse. He was familiar with the Chinook jargon. and
. Saltese made known the grievance of the tribes. but had little to say.
40
The great secret of the success of Joan of Arc was the boldness of her attacks. "Where is now your fortress?" "Here. and placed at the right hand of Saltese. and they asked him in derision. a soldier and a servant. McClellan had been on friendly terms with them. It was after the Mexican War when General McClellan was employed as a topographical engineer in surveying the Pacific coast.

He mounted his horse and rode to his camp. When the sentence was passed he acted like a flash. He had sat motionless. McClellan strode out of the tent with his revolver in his hand. Flinging his left arm around the neck of Saltese. apparently indifferent to his fate. By his listlessness he had thrown his captors off their guard. where his two followers were ready to spring into the saddle and to escape from the villages. in the name of the head men of the tribes. The council was prolonged for hours before sentence was passed." was the quick response. McClellan had said nothing. Still. McClellan knew how sacred was the pledge which he had received. or I shall kill you this instant!" he cried. with his fingers clicking the trigger. and then Saltese.CHAPTER II. he whipped out his revolver and held it close to the chief's temple. Saltese was released from the embrace of the strong arm. decreed that McClellan should immediately be put to death in retaliation for the hanging of the two Indian thieves." "You have the word of Saltese. The revolver was lowered. "I revoke it!" exclaimed Saltese. Not a hand was raised against him. "I must have your word that I can leave this council in safety. "Revoke that sentence. fairly livid from fear.
41
was not responsible for the forest executions. he was a white man. He had known that argument and pleas for justice or mercy would be of no avail. He owed his life to
. and the chiefs had vowed vengeance against the race.

Butler. He found the supports of the floor in so bad a condition that the slightest applause would be likely to bury the audience in the ruins of the building. he added. therefore he and those with him would be the last to leave. The post of danger." then he told the crowd that there was no immediate danger if they would slowly disperse. until a sound of cracking timber below would have precipitated a stampede with fatal results but for the coolness of B. Returning rather leisurely to the platform. No doubt many lives were saved by his coolness. he whispered to Choate as he passed. In 1866. who presided. The floor of the great hall began to sink. Telling the people to remain quiet. settling more and more as he proceeded with his address. but Schuyler Colfax. "We shall all be in ---. Rufus Choate spoke to an audience of nearly five thousand in Lowell in favor of the candidacy of James Buchanan for the presidency.
42
his quickness of perception. was on the platform. which was most weakly supported. then vice-president of
. although he thought it prudent to adjourn to a place where there would be no risk whatever. he said that he would see if there were any cause for alarm. Many distinguished foreign and American statesmen were present at a fashionable dinner party where wine was freely poured.CHAPTER II. F.in five minutes. and to his accurate knowledge of Indian character.

Late at night four men stumbled in." When Grant was in Houston several years ago.CHAPTER II.
43
the United States. and naturally inclined to like a man of Grant's make-up. They made great preparations for the dinner. Naturally hospitable. every man along the line of the long tables turned his glasses down. declined to drink from a proffered cup. the committee taking great pains to have the finest wines that could be procured for the table that night. When the time came to serve the wine. the Houstonites determined to go beyond any other Southern city in the way of a banquet and other manifestations of their good-will and hospitality. but they were equal to the occasion. Without a word the general quietly turned down all the glasses at his plate. A deep sewer at Noyon. "Colfax dares not drink. and carelessly left at night without covering or lights to warn people of danger. France. and there was not a drop of wine taken that night. No one dared go to the aid of the men. Without a single word being spoken. This movement was a great surprise to the Texans. the head-waiter went first to Grant.
. had been opened for repairs." sneered a Senator who had already taken too much." said the Vice-President. he was given a rousing reception. and lay some time before their situation was known in the town. "I dare not. "You are right.

observing that the other showed signs of fear. "and if you were half as much frightened. when he saw a soldier turn pale as he marched against a battery. "Sir. I am." said Wellington. and faces it. except Catherine Vassen." was the reply. Tying another rope to her long." "Yes. when she felt her breath failing. but was drawn up with the man." said a friend to Luther." "That's a brave man.CHAPTER II. to be quickly revived by fresh air and stimulants." "There are many cardinals and bishops at Worms. in the
. she swooned. she had just tied a rope around a third man. on account of the delay from the fainting of Catherine. Descending again. The fourth man was dead when his body was pulled up. and that should flame up to heaven. She insisted on being lowered at once. a servant girl of eighteen." Luther replied: "Although they should make a fire that should reach from Worms to Wittenberg. you would run away.
44
then unconscious from breathing noxious gases. Two French officers at Waterloo were advancing to charge a greatly superior force. said. Fastening a rope around two of the men. "and they will burn your body to ashes as they did that of John Huss. One. curly hair. I believe you are frightened. "he knows his danger. she aided in raising them and restoring them to consciousness.

a slight." exclaimed Luther at the Diet of Worms. Miner. Colonel Thomas W. It is 'Our Mothers. where wine flowed freely and ribald jests were bandied. A Western paper recently invited the surviving Union and Confederate officers to give an account of the bravest act observed by each during the Civil War." He said to another: "I would enter Worms though there were as many devils there as there are tiles upon the roofs of the houses. God help me. I cannot do otherwise." Another said: "Duke George will surely arrest you. to espouse a cause which called down upon his head the derision and scorn and hatred of the Parliament. Dr. or sung a song. although I must drink it in water. though it rain Duke Georges for nine days together. was told that he could not go until he had drunk a toast. S. It took great courage for the commercial Quaker. but I will give a toast..CHAPTER II. and I will go.'" The men were so affected and ashamed that some took him by the hand and thanked him for displaying courage greater than that required to walk up to the mouth of a cannon. He replied: "I cannot sing. John Bright." "Here I stand." He replied: "It is my duty to go. boyish fellow who did not drink.
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Lord's name I would pass through it and appear before them. told a story. Higginson said that at a dinner at Beaufort. C.
. facing his foes.

which saved him from political annihilation. and takes him boldly by the beard. It was only his strength of character and masterly eloquence. "he is often surprised to find it come off in his hand." says Holmes." It takes courage for a young man to stand firmly erect while others are bowing and fawning for praise and power." It takes courage to do your duty in silence and
. It takes courage to remain in honest poverty when others grow rich by fraud. the World." "When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully. It takes courage to wear threadbare clothes while your comrades dress in broadcloth.CHAPTER II. "I never heard that they did anything else. and that it was only tied on to scare away timid adventurers.
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For years he rested under a cloud of obloquy. when Bright was ill. It takes courage to say "No" squarely when those around you say "Yes. When Bright went back into the Commons he replied: "This may be so. To a man who boasted that his ancestors came over with the Conquerors. but Bright was made of stern stuff." A Tory lordling said. that Providence had inflicted upon Bright. but it will be some consolation to the friends and family of the noble lord to know that that disease is one which even Providence cannot inflict upon him. for the measure of his talents. disease of the brain. he replied.

ridiculed.
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obscurity while others prosper and grow famous although neglecting sacred obligations. "'Tis he is the coward who proves false to his vows. though alone. to stand alone with all the world against you." "An honest man is not the worse because a dog barks at him. It takes courage and pluck to be outvoted. misjudged. to show your blemishes to a condemning world. and 'twill fly at his heels.CHAPTER II. derided. It takes courage to unmask your true self." "Let any man show the world that he feels Afraid of its bark. for a laugh or a sneer: 'Tis he is the hero who stands firm. beaten. his honor. And 't will fawn at his feet if he fling it a bone. Let him fearlessly face it. but "They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three. scoffed. To his manhood." We live ridiculously for fear of being thought ridiculous. laughed at. For the truth and the
." "There is never wanting a dog to bark at you. misunderstood. and to pass for what you really are. 't will leave him alone.

servants. or be ostracized." The youth who starts out by being afraid to speak what he thinks will usually end by being afraid to think what he wishes.
. To espouse an unpopular cause in Congress requires more courage than to lead a charge in battle.CHAPTER II. It takes courage for a public man not to bend the knee to popular prejudice. and they in turn dare not depart from their schools. Dress. or your doctor or minister. How much easier for a politician to prevaricate and dodge an issue than to stand squarely on his feet like a man. Custom or fashion dictates. How we shrink from an act of our own. It takes courage to refuse to follow custom when it is injurious to his health and morals.
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right without flinching or fear. Grundy. carriages. and snap his fingers at Dame Grundy? Many a man has marched up to the cannon's mouth in battle who dared not face public opinion or oppose Mrs. living. We live as others live. Who dares conduct his household or business affairs in his own way. everything must conform.

Were you a Horace. Grundy? Yet fear is really the only thing to fear.CHAPTER II. and his words have become
. If you were a Goethe. so the greatest hero is a coward somewhere." said Andrew Jackson. but how many women would not rather strangle their individuality than be tabooed by Mrs. there are people who will reproach you with the very purity and delicacy of your taste. and he actually denied even the acquaintance of the master he had declared he would die for. "I will take the responsibility." said Sainte-Beuve. "great genius. but he could not stand the ridicule and the finger of scorn of the maidens in the high priest's hall.
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As a rule. some one will call you a drunken savage. Peter was courageous enough to draw his sword to defend his master. eccentricity is a badge of power." As the strongest man has a weakness somewhere. the qualities for which you deserve to be praised will all be turned against you. there are people who will call you an effeminate poet. "Whoever you may be. on a memorable occasion. If you were a Shakespeare. more than one Pharisee will proclaim you the most selfish of egotists. artist honorable or amiable. distinguished talent. the pious and sensible singer par excellence. Were you a Virgil.

can never rise to the true dignity of manhood. nothing lovable in fear. All the world loves courage. but the man who is not true to himself. of its approval or disapproval. The worst manners in the world are those of persons conscious "of being beneath their position. and trying to conceal it or make up for it by style. to expose one's self to the shafts of everybody's ridicule. who cannot carry out the sealed orders placed in his hands at his birth. If a man would accomplish anything in this world. regardless of the world's yes or no. the man who has not the courage to trace the pattern of his own destiny. If the boys cannot get the real article.CHAPTER II. begging everybody's pardon for taking the liberty of being in the world. to be subjected to criticism for an unpopular cause. Both are deformities and are repulsive. The fascination of the "blood and thunder" novels and of the cheap story papers for youth are based upon this idea of courage. which no other soul knows but his own.
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proverbial. they will take a counterfeit. they want to hear about it."
. he must not be afraid of assuming responsibilities. There is nothing attractive in timidity. Not even Congress dared to oppose the edicts of John Quincy Adams. Of course it takes courage to run the risk of failure. Manly courage is dignified and graceful. Don't be like Uriah Heep. they want to read about it. youth craves it.

" said Shaftesbury. a large amount of blood is collected in the arteries. "Fear?" said the future admiral." Courage is victory. A strong pulse is a fortune in itself.
51
Bruno." said Emerson." Anne Askew.
. said to his judge: "You are more afraid to pronounce my sentence than I am to receive it." "Doubt indulged becomes doubt realized." "Half a man's wisdom goes with his courage. but looked her tormentor calmly in the face and refused to abjure her faith. and does not pass to the veins.CHAPTER II. "To think a thing is impossible is to make it so. and afraid of each other. anger. afraid of fortune. racked until her bones were dislocated. Physicians used to teach that courage depends on the circulation of the blood in the arteries." To determine to do anything is half the battle. "Rage. never flinched. afraid of death. timidity is defeat. and that during passion. "I don't know him." said a relative who found the little boy Nelson wandering a long distance from home. condemned to be burned alive in Rome. "We are afraid of truth. "can make a coward forget himself and fight. wrestling or fighting. trials of strength." "I should have thought fear would have kept you from going so far.

with an orchard surrounded by a thick hedge. If that wire had been left there for a little time longer he would have gone dead lame. "it is simply murder for us to sit here. I wish you would get down. you should never take any chances with him. is the sublimest audacity the world has ever seen." said he." "All right." said Grant. "Dent. save with his shepherd's staff and sling. to confront the colossal Goliath with his massive armor. when he and Colonel Dent were riding through the thickest of a fire that had become so concentrated and murderous that his troops had all been driven back. and climbed into his saddle." said Dent. David. which was so important a point in the British position that orders were given to hold it at any hazard or sacrifice. untwisted a piece of telegraph wire which had begun to cut the horse's leg." said Grant.
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That simple shepherd-lad. and would perhaps have been ruined for life.CHAPTER II." He dismounted. "when you've got a horse that you think a great deal of. examined it deliberately. fresh from his flocks. I will. "Dent. and see what is the matter with that leg there. surrounding the orchard with a wall of
. "I guess looking after your horse's legs can wait. At last the powder and ball ran short and the hedges took fire." Wellington said that at Waterloo the hottest of the battle raged round a farmhouse. "if you don't want to see to it. marching unattended and unarmed.

the next.CHAPTER II. and caught the powder. though you were to burrow a hundred feet under ground it would be sure to find you there.
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flame. and soon two loaded wagons came galloping toward the farmhouse. Napoleon looked at him and smilingly said: "My friend." When the mine in front of Petersburg was finished. But seconds. but the flames rose fiercely round. For an instant the driver of the second wagon paused. sending wagon. and a young soldier instinctively dodged. landed his terrible cargo safely within. appalled by his comrade's fate. observing that the flames. and raged more fiercely than ever. the fuse was lighted. and rider in fragments into the air. with the reckless daring of an English boy." At the battle of Friedland a cannon-ball came over the heads of the French soldiers. and the Union troops were drawn up ready to charge the enemy's works as soon as the explosion should make a breach. and tens of minutes
. beaten back for the moment by the explosion. "The driver of the first wagon. which exploded in an instant. A messenger had been sent for ammunition. minutes. amid the deafening cheers of the garrison. spurred his struggling and terrified horses through the burning heap. afforded him one desperate chance. if that ball were destined for you. horses. Behind him the flames closed up. sent his horses at the smouldering breach and.

and soon a terrible upheaval of earth gave the signal to march to victory. he said: "This is warm work. But. while the enemy's guns were pouring shot into his regiment. At the battle of Copenhagen. for all things serve a
. mark me. Execute your resolutions immediately. Through the long subterranean galleries they hurried in silence. Sir William Napier's men became disobedient.CHAPTER II. and flogged four of the ringleaders under fire. Lieutenant Doughty and Sergeant Kees volunteered to examine the fuse. he covered his face. Does competition trouble you? work away. without a sound from the mine.
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passed. when Nelson was shot and was being carried below. The men yielded at once. and the suspense became painful. and then marched three miles under a heavy cannonade as coolly as if it were a review." At the battle of Trafalgar. Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried. In a skirmish at Salamanca. He at once ordered a halt. that those fighting might not know their chief had fallen. and this day may be the last to any of us in a moment. what is your competitor but a man? Conquer your place in the world. as Nelson walked the deck slippery with blood and covered with the dead. not knowing but they were advancing to a horrible death. They found the defect. fired the train anew. I would not be elsewhere for thousands.

in all probability. would. "No great deed is done. Or. and who. And make us lose the good we oft might win. endure poverty nobly.CHAPTER II. have gone great lengths in the career of usefulness and fame. while the coward stands aside.
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brave soul. Then it is the brave man chooses. encounter disappointment courageously. The influence of the brave man is a magnetism which creates an epidemic of noble zeal in all about him. he will bear his ills with a patience and calm endurance deeper than ever plummet sounded. He is the true hero." says George Eliot. Combat difficulty manfully." The brave. Ere her cause bring fame and profit. LOWELL. lessons and perhaps blessings in disguise. sustain misfortune bravely. cheerful man will survive his blighted hopes and disappointments. Every day sends to the grave obscure men. By fearing to attempt. and will march boldly and cheerfully forward in the battle of life. Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust. if they could have been induced to begin. "by falterers who ask for certainty.
. and 't is prosperous to be just. till his Lord is crucified. SHAKESPEARE. who have only remained in obscurity because their timidity has prevented them from making a first effort. take them for just what they are. if necessary. Doubting in his abject spirit. Our doubts are traitors.

I beseech you ascribe it to my sickness rather than to myself. and said to the sheriff: "'T is a sharp medicine. She remained true to her father when all others. After his head had been cut off and exhibited on a pole on London Bridge. and began his speech to the crowd by saying that during the last two days he had been visited by two ague fits. damp. When Sir Walter Raleigh came to the scaffold he was very faint. for her death occurred soon. as some of the bishops had done.CHAPTER II. "If. Don't fool with a nettle! Grasp with firmness if you would rob it of its sting. and requested that it be buried in the coffin with her. therefore. even her mother. had forsaken him. His daughter allowed the power of love to drive away fear.
56
After the great inward struggle was over. you perceive any weakness in me." He took the axe and kissed the blade. His wife called him a fool for staying in a dark. but a sound cure for all diseases. the poor girl begged it of the authorities. Her request was granted. To half will and to hang forever in the
. or in crossing bridges you have not reached. and he had determined to remain loyal to his principles." Don't waste time dreaming of obstacles you may never encounter. filthy prison when he might have his liberty by merely renouncing his doctrines. But he preferred death to dishonor. Thomas More walked cheerfully to the block.

Abraham Lincoln's boyhood was one long struggle with poverty.
57
balance is to lose your grip on life. Chase left the court room after making an impassioned plea for the runaway slave girl Matilda. and thus imperil what small reputation he had gained. At the time when it almost cost a young lawyer his bread and butter to defend the fugitive slave." As Salmon P.CHAPTER II. and no influential friends. with little education. Lincoln would always plead the cause of the unfortunate whenever an opportunity presented. Lincoln never shrank from espousing an unpopular cause when he believed it to be right. when these hounded fugitives were seeking protection. and through it all to do the right as God gave him to see the right. and when other lawyers had refused. to support Grant and Stanton against the clamor of the politicians and the press. it required no little daring to cast his fortune with the weaker side in politics." people would say. "he's not afraid of any cause. When at last he had begun the practice of law. if it's right. to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. a man looked at him in surprise and said: "There goes a fine
. Only the most sublime moral courage could have sustained him as President to hold his ground against hostile criticism and a long train of disaster. "Go to Lincoln.

" said Penn. Did Anna Dickinson leave the platform
. the recorder. the blind saw. and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. returned a verdict of "Not guilty." At last the jury. not satisfied with the first verdict. "mind your privileges. What cared Wendell Phillips for rotten eggs. and hisses? In him "at last the scornful world had met its match. At the trial of William Penn for having spoken at a Quaker meeting. derisive scorn. the leper was made whole. What cared Christ for the jeers of the crowd? The palsied hand moved." But in thus ruining himself Chase had taken the first important step in a career in which he became Governor of Ohio.CHAPTER II. give not away your right. or you shall starve for it." "You are Englishmen. after two days and two nights without food. United States Senator from Ohio. said to the jury: "We will have a verdict by the help of God. despite the ridicule and scoffs of the spectators." The recorder fined them forty marks apiece for their independence. Secretary of the United States Treasury. the dead spake.
58
young fellow who has just ruined himself." Were Beecher and Gough to be silenced by the rude English mobs that came to extinguish them? No! they held their ground and compelled unwilling thousands to hear and to heed.

Foes may hunt and hound thee: Shall they overpower thee? Never.CHAPTER II. which had already hanged more than one man to lamp-posts. or a mob. and found the streets thronged with an angry mob. never. "Storms may howl around thee. who dares to preach on with a musket leveled at his head. a Garrison. fiends from hell. never." was the cool
. or a scaffold erected in front of his door. Butler went to the place where the crowd was most dense. and began: "Delegates from Five Points. "Our enemies are before us. "And we are before them.
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when the pistol bullets of the Molly Maguires flew about her head? She silenced those pistols by her courage and her arguments. overturned an ash barrel." and the blood-stained crowd quailed before the courageous words of a single man in a city which Mayor Fernando Wood could not restrain with the aid of police and militia. "What the world wants is a Knox. you have murdered your superiors. who is not afraid of a jail. Without waiting for his men. stood upon it. he arrived in advance of his troops." exclaimed the Spartans at Thermopylae." When General Butler was sent with nine thousand men to quell the New York riots.

" said a staff officer. When told that he was surrounded by the enemy at Belmont." "Then we will fight in the shade. "impossible is the adjective of fools!" Napoleon went to the edge of his possibility. "Deliver your arms. Sloth and folly shiver and sicken at the sight of trial and hazard. "It is impossible. then we must cut our way out. A Persian soldier said: "You will not be able to see the sun for flying javelins and arrows. What wonder that a handful of such men checked the march of the greatest host that ever trod the earth.
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reply of Leonidas. "Come and take them. Men follow him. when Napoleon gave directions for a daring plan. The spirit of courage will transform the whole temper of your life. Grant never knew when he was beaten. even to the death.CHAPTER II." came the message from Xerxes. "The wise and active conquer difficulties by daring to attempt them." was the answer Leonidas sent back."
." The courageous man is an example to the intrepid. he quietly replied: "Well. His influence is magnetic. He creates an epidemic of nobleness. "Impossible!" thundered the great commander. and make the impossibility they fear." replied a Lacedemonian.

turned it into a cat itself. and dragged in chains thus far toward the land of bondage. it is impossible to help you by
. the explorer of Africa. As you have only the heart of a mouse.CHAPTER II. Then it began to suffer from fear of hunters. as his troop was on its toilsome but exciting way through Central Africa. was left behind by his exploring party under circumstances that were thought certainly fatal.
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"The hero." says Emerson. and the miserable company had been abandoned to their fate. that the magician. it came upon a most wretched sight. and stayed behind in this camp of death to act as physician and nurse. A party of natives had been kidnapped by the slave-hunters. The magician therefore turned it into a tiger. and his death was reported with great assurance. Immediately it began to suffer from its fear of a dog. and the magician said in disgust: "Be a mouse again. How many lives he saved is not known. This is as knightly a deed as poet ever chronicled. though it is known that he nearly lost his own. Early the next winter. But small-pox had set in." Emin Pasha. Emin sent his men ahead. A mouse that dwelt near the abode of a great magician was kept in such constant distress by its fear of a cat. so the magician turned it into a dog. The age of chivalry is not gone by. Then it began to suffer from fear of a tiger. "is the man who is immovably centred. taking pity on it.

Washington was appointed adjutant-general at nineteen. Alexander. Galileo was but eighteen when he saw the principle of the pendulum in the swinging lamp in the cathedral at Pisa. who sleeps in Westminster Abbey. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was proficient in Greek and Latin at twelve. and won his first battle as a colonel at twenty-two. Gladstone was in Parliament before he was twenty-two. and defeated three million men. who ascended the throne at twenty. had conquered the known world before dying at thirty-three." Men who have dared have moved the world. was sent at twenty-one as an ambassador to treat with the French. Robert Browning wrote at eleven poetry of no mean order. Charlemagne was master of France and Germany at thirty. Julius Caesar captured eight hundred cities. Peel was in Parliament at twenty-one.CHAPTER II. and still was a young man. Cowley. De Quincey at eleven. Lafayette was made general of the whole French army at twenty. published a volume of poems at fifteen. P. often before reaching the prime of life. conquered three hundred nations. It is astonishing what daring to begin and perseverance have enabled even youths to achieve. and at twenty-four he was Lord of the Treasury. Willis won lasting fame as a poet before leaving college. Macaulay
. became a great orator and one of the greatest statesmen known. Condé was only twenty-two when he conquered at Rocroi. N.
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giving you the body of a nobler animal.

he outgeneraled and defeated. one after another. he dealt an almost annihilating blow at the republic of Rome. Nelson was a lieutenant in the British Navy before he was twenty. at thirty-six. Clive had established the British power in India. on the plains of Italy. "Not every vessel that sails from Tarshish will bring back the gold of Ophir. and Napoleon was only twenty-seven when. Gladstone ruled England with a strong hand at eighty-four. George Bancroft wrote some of his best historical work when he was eighty-five. Hannibal. Victor Hugo and Wellington were both in their prime after they had reached the age of threescore years and ten. Charles the Twelfth was only nineteen when he gained the battle of Narva. the veteran marshals of Austria. was only thirty when. He was but forty-seven when he received his death wound at Trafalgar. Cortez was the conqueror of Mexico.CHAPTER II. at Cannae. Equal courage and resolution are often shown by men who have passed the allotted limit of life. at thirty-two.
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was a celebrated author before he was twenty-three. But shall it therefore rot in the harbor? No! Give its sails to the wind!"
. and was a marvel of literary and scholarly ability. Luther was but twenty-nine when he nailed his famous thesis to the door of the bishop and defied the pope. the greatest of military commanders.

" On the second gate: "Be bold." the third gate: "Be not too bold.CHAPTER II.--PYTHAGORAS." Many a bright youth has accomplished nothing of worth simply because he did not dare to commence. Fear makes man a slave to others. For that were stupid and irrational. Courage is generosity of the highest order. Our blood is
. Begin! Begin!! Begin!!! Whatever people may think of you.
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Shakespeare says: "He is not worthy of the honeycomb that shuns the hive because the bees have stings." "The brave man is not he who feels no fear. for the brave are prodigal of the most precious things." The inscription on the gates of Busyrane: "Be bold. and ever more be bold. Anxiety is a form of cowardice embittering life. be bold.--CHANNING. This is the tyrant's chain. do that which you believe to be right. Be alike indifferent to censure or praise. But he whose noble soul its fear subdues And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from.

. will have no time to reap. I dare to do all that may become a man: Who dares do more is none. Who watcheth clouds.--1 SAMUEL iv. Inscription on Leaden Casket. There are obstinate and unknown braves who defend themselves inch by inch in the shadows against the fatal invasion of want and turpitude.CHAPTER II. isolation. Who waits until the wind shall silent keep. and our life than our estate. There are noble and mysterious triumphs which no eye sees. and no flourish of trumpets salutes.--VICTOR HUGO.--COLTON. Women are more taken with courage than with generosity. no renown rewards. Who chooses me must give and hazard all he hath. 9. Life. HELEN HUNT JACKSON. Who never finds the ready hour to sow. abandonment.
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nearer and dearer to us than our money. Quit yourselves like men. For man's great actions are performed in minor struggles. and poverty are battlefields which have their heroes. Merchant of Venice. SHAKESPEAKE. misfortune.

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CHAPTER III.
THE WILL AND THE WAY. "The 'way' will be found by a resolute will." "I will find a way or make one." Nothing is impossible to the man who can will.--MIRABEAU. A politician weakly and amiably in the right is no match for a politician tenaciously and pugnaciously in the wrong.--E. P. WHIPPLE. The iron will of one stout heart shall make a thousand quail; A feeble dwarf, dauntlessly resolved, will turn the tide of battle, And rally to a nobler strife the giants that had fled. TUPPER. "Man alone can perform the impossible. They can who think they can. Character is a perfectly educated will." The education of the will is the object of our existence. For the resolute and determined there is time and opportunity.--EMERSON.

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Invincible determination, and a right nature, are the levers that move the world.--PRESIDENT PORTER. In the lexicon of youth which fate reserves for a bright manhood there is no such word as fail.--BULWER. Perpetual pushing and assurance put a difficulty out of countenance and make a seeming difficulty give way.--JEREMY COLLIER. When a firm and decisive spirit is recognized, it is curious to see how the space clears around a man and leaves him room and freedom.--JOHN FOSTER. The star of the unconquered will, He rises in my breast, Serene, and resolute and still, And calm and self-possessed. LONGFELLOW. "As well can the Prince of Orange pluck the stars from the sky, as bring the ocean to the wall of Leyden for your relief," was the derisive shout of the Spanish soldiers when told that the Dutch fleet would raise that terrible four months' siege of 1574. But from the parched lips of William, tossing on his bed of fever at Rotterdam, had issued the command: "Break down the dikes: give Holland back to ocean:" and the people had replied: "Better a drowned land than a lost land." They began to demolish

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dike after dike of the strong lines, ranged one within another for fifteen miles to their city of the interior. It was an enormous task; the garrison was starving; and the besiegers laughed in scorn at the slow progress of the puny insects who sought to rule the waves of the sea. But ever, as of old, heaven aids those who help themselves. On the first and second of October a violent equinoctial gale rolled the ocean inland, and swept the fleet on the rising waters almost to the camp of the Spaniards. The next morning the garrison sallied out to attack their enemies, but the besiegers had fled in terror under cover of the darkness. The next day the wind changed, and a counter tempest brushed the water, with the fleet upon it, from the surface of Holland. The outer dikes were replaced at once, leaving the North Sea within its old bounds. When the flowers bloomed the following spring, a joyous procession marched through the streets to found the University of Leyden, in commemoration of the wonderful deliverance of the city. ****** [Illustration: WALTER SCOTT] "The Wizard of the North."

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"So nigh is grandeur to our dust, So near is God to man, When Duty whispers low, 'Thou must,' The youth replies, 'I can.'" ****** At a dinner party given in 1837, at the residence of Chancellor Kent, in New York city, some of the most distinguished men in the country were invited, and among them was a young and rather melancholy and reticent Frenchman. Professor Morse was one of the guests, and during the evening he drew the attention of Mr. Gallatin, then a prominent statesman, to the stranger, observing that his forehead indicated great intellect. "Yes," replied Mr. Gallatin, touching his own forehead with his finger, "there is a great deal in that head of his: but he has a strange fancy. Can you believe it? He has the idea that he will one day be the Emperor of France. Can you conceive anything more absurd?" It did seem absurd, for this reserved Frenchman was then a poor adventurer, an exile from his country, without fortune or powerful connections, and yet, fourteen years later, his idea became a fact,--his dream of becoming Napoleon III. was realized. True, before he accomplished his purpose there were long dreary years of imprisonment, exile, disaster, and patient labor and hope, but he gained

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his ambition at last. He was not scrupulous as to the means employed to accomplish his ends, yet he is a remarkable example of what pluck and energy can do. When it was proposed to unite England and America by steam, Dr. Lardner delivered a lecture before the Royal Society "proving" that steamers could never cross the Atlantic, because they could not carry coal enough to produce steam during the whole voyage. The passage of the steamship Sirius, which crossed in nineteen days, was fatal to Lardner's theory. When it was proposed to build a vessel of iron, many persons said: "Iron sinks--only wood can float:" but experiments proved that the miracle of the prophet in making iron "swim" could be repeated, and now not only ships of war, but merchant vessels, are built of iron or steel. A will found a way to make iron float. Mr. Ingram, publisher of the "London Illustrated News," who lost his life on Lake Michigan, walked ten miles to deliver a single paper rather than disappoint a customer, when he began life as a newsdealer at Nottingham, England. Does any one wonder that such a youth succeeded? Once he rose at two o'clock in the morning and walked to London to get some papers because there was no post to bring them. He determined that his customers should not be disappointed. This is the kind of will that finds a way.

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There is scarcely anything in all biography grander than the saying of young Henry Fawcett, Gladstone's last Postmaster-General, to his grief-stricken father, who had put out both his eyes by bird-shot during a game hunt: "Never mind, father, blindness shall not interfere with my success in life." One of the most pathetic sights in London streets, long afterward, was Henry Fawcett, M. P., led everywhere by a faithful daughter, who acted as amanuensis as well as guide to her plucky father. Think of a young man, scarcely on the threshold of active life, suddenly losing the sight of both eyes and yet, by mere pluck and almost incomprehensible tenacity of purpose, lifting himself into eminence, in any direction, to say nothing of becoming one of the foremost men in a country noted for its great men. Most youth would have succumbed to such a misfortune, and would never have been heard from again. But fortunately for the world, there are yet left many Fawcetts, many Prescotts, Parkmans, Cavanaghs. The courageous daughter who was eyes to her father was herself a marvelous example of pluck and determination. For the first time in the history of Oxford College, which reaches back centuries, she succeeded in winning the post which had only been gained before by great men, such as Gladstone,--the post of senior wrangler. This achievement had had no parallel in history up to that date, and attracted the attention of the whole civilized world. Not only had no

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woman ever held this position before, but with few exceptions it had only been held by men who in after life became highly distinguished. Who can deny that where there is a will, as a rule, there's a way? When Grant was a boy he could not find "can't" in the dictionary. It is the men who have no "can't" in their dictionaries that make things move. "Circumstances," says Milton, "have rarely favored famous men. They have fought their way to triumph through all sorts of opposing obstacles." The true way to conquer circumstances is to be a greater circumstance yourself. Yet, while desiring to impress in the most forcible manner possible the fact that will-power is necessary to success, and that, other things being equal, the greater the will-power, the grander and more complete the success, we cannot indorse the preposterous theory that there is nothing in circumstances or environments, or that any man, simply because he has an indomitable will, may become a Bonaparte, a Pitt, a Webster, a Beecher, a Lincoln. We must temper determination with discretion, and support it with knowledge and common sense, or it will only lead us to run our heads against posts. We must not expect to

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overcome a stubborn fact by a stubborn will. We merely have the right to assume that we can do anything within the limit of our utmost faculty, strength, and endurance. Obstacles permanently insurmountable bar our progress in some directions, but in any direction we may reasonably hope and attempt to go, we shall find that the obstacles, as a rule, are either not insurmountable or else not permanent. The strong-willed, intelligent, persistent man will find or make a way where, in the nature of things, a way can be found or made. Every schoolboy knows that circumstances do give clients to lawyers and patients to physicians; place ordinary clergymen in extraordinary pulpits; place sons of the rich at the head of immense corporations and large houses, when they have very ordinary ability and scarcely any experience, while poor young men with extraordinary abilities, good education, good character, and large experience, often have to fight their way for years to obtain even very ordinary situations. Every one knows that there are thousands of young men, both in the city and in the country, of superior ability, who seem to be compelled by circumstances to remain in very ordinary positions for small pay, when others about them are raised by money or family influence into desirable places. In other words, we all know that the best men do not always get the best places: circumstances do have a great deal to do with our

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position, our salaries, and our station in life. Many young men who are nature's noblemen, who are natural leaders, are working under superintendents, foremen, and managers infinitely their inferiors, but whom circumstances have placed above them and will keep there, unless some emergency makes merit indispensable. No, the race is not always to the swift. Every one knows that there is not always a way where there is a will, that labor does not always conquer all things; that there are things impossible even to him that wills, however strongly; that one cannot always make anything of himself he chooses; that there are limitations in our very natures which no amount of will-power or industry can overcome; that no amount of sun-staring can ever make an eagle out of a crow. The simple truth is that a will strong enough to keep a man continually striving for things not wholly beyond his powers will carry him in time very far toward his chosen goal. The greatest thing a man can do in this world is to make the most possible out of the stuff that has been given to him. This is success, and there is no other.

which every youth should ask himself. The corn that is now ripe. It is not a question of what some one else can do or become. yet that it is almost omnipotent. then. whence comes it. unlike the corn. according to the conditions under which it has grown? Yet its environments cannot make wheat of it. greatly to change and to take advantage of our circumstances.CHAPTER III. man can usually build the very road on which he is to run his race. we can rise much superior to our natural surroundings simply because we can thus vary and improve the surroundings. and wholly within our power. so that. Nor can our circumstances alter our nature. stunted wild maize or well-developed ears. that it can perform
. but what can I do? How can I develop myself into the grandest possible manhood? So far. in most things they do not prevent our growth. from the power of circumstances being a hindrance to men in trying to build for themselves an imperial highway to fortune. these circumstances constitute the very quarry out of which they are to get paving-stones for the road. In other words. It is part of our nature.
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While it is true that our circumstances or environments do affect us. and what is it? Is it not large or small. While it is true that the will-power cannot perform miracles.

" "There is nobody. according to popular prejudice. dear Brutus. she goes in at the door. or trifling. or conceited. He is ill-tempered. or clutch at it when it has gone. What has chance ever done in the world? Has it built any cities? Has it invented any telephones. established any universities. As Shakespeare says:-"Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault. The sharp fellows detect it instantly. any asylums. "whom Fortune does not visit once in his life: but when she finds he is not ready to receive her. any telegraphs? Has it built any steamships. or some other requisite for success. But in ourselves. a victim of bad luck. all history goes to prove. enthusiasm." says a Roman Cardinal. is not in our stars. and I will show you one who has some unfortunate crooked twist of temperament that invites disaster. any hospitals? Was there any chance in
. but that circumstances are the creatures of men. and out through the window. The careless. the slow. Disraeli says that man is not the creature of circumstances. the unobservant. Show me a man who is. lacks character.
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wonders. the lazy fail to see it." Opportunity is coy. that we are underlings. and catch it when on the wing.CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER III. which annihilates the sickly. What had luck to do with Thermopylae. Trafalgar."
." It is only the ignorant and superficial who believe in fate. and can make mouths at fortune. And breasts the blows of circumstance. and naught to do but obey his own polarity. with a fixed position. Man is not a helpless atom in this vast creation. Believe in the power of will." "Fate is unpenetrated causes.--you must but can't. with Wellington's. And grapples with his evil star. Give me the man "Who breaks his birth's invidious bar. you ought but it is impossible.
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Caesar's crossing the Rubicon? What had chance to do with Napoleon's career. Gettysburg? Our successes we ascribe to ourselves. sentimental doctrine of fatalism. "The first step into thought lifts this mountain of necessity. our failures to destiny. or Von Moltke's? Every battle was won before it was begun. And grasps the skirts of happy chance. or Grant's." "They may well fear fate who have any infirmity of habit or aim: but he who rests on what he is has a destiny beyond destiny.

Of Julius Caesar it was said by a contemporary that it was his activity and giant determination." "People do not lack strength. and he who seizes the grand idea of self-cultivation. and strength for weakness. by that very resolution has scaled the great barriers to it. "they lack will. who keeps his ears open for every sound that can help him on his way. There is always room for a man of force. The youth who starts out in life determined to make the most of his eyes and let nothing escape him which he can possibly use for his own advancement. "He who has a firm will." says Goethe. and ever putting him upon his own improvement. that resolution. "moulds the world to himself. the inflexible purpose. have been remarkable above all things else for their energy of will. who keeps his hands open that he may clutch every opportunity. will find a way or make one. and solemnly resolves upon it. will find that idea. that won his victories. searching out. He will find it removing difficulties.
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The indomitable will. rather than his military skill. who is ever on the alert for everything
." "He who resolves upon any great end. burning like fire within him.CHAPTER III. giving courage for despondency. or making means." Nearly all great men." says Victor Hugo. those who have towered high above their fellows.

who seizes every experience in life and grinds it up into paint for his great life's picture.CHAPTER III. The world always stands aside for the determined man. the one march more that wins the campaign: the five minutes more of unyielding courage that wins the fight. he had partaken of that nineteenth century miracle. He entered the Democratic Convention and. He was invincible.
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which can help him to get on in the world. Will makes a way. there are no "ifs" or "ands" about it. though she was burned. caused her to rise from her ashes and become a greater and a grander Chicago. save
. boldly declared himself their candidate. even through seeming impossibilities. who keeps his heart open that he may catch every noble impulse. Every newspaper in Chicago. in spite of their protest." Again and again had the irrepressible Carter Harrison been consigned to oblivion by the educated and moral element of Chicago. A son of Chicago. a wonder of the world. and everything which may inspire him. with an audacity rarely equaled. that phoenix-like nature of the city which. "It is the half a neck nearer that shows the blood and wins the race.--that youth will be sure to make his life successful. No tyranny of circumstances can permanently imprison a determined will. If he has his health. Carter Harrison would not down. Nothing could keep him down. nothing can keep him from final success.

" said Confucius.CHAPTER III." his own paper. but the poor people believed in him: he pandered to them. and to build upon it the finest mansion in all the borough. Kitto. the moral element feared him. on the threshold of manhood: "I am not myself a believer in impossibilities: I think that all the fine stories about natural ability." The poor. according to his opportunities and industry. he was elected by twenty thousand majority. wrote in his journal. and he then and there resolved to be the owner of it." Years ago. and to adorn it. and that every man may. a young mechanic took a bath in the river Clyde. While swimming from shore to shore he discerned a beautiful bank. uncultivated. bitterly opposed his election: but notwithstanding all opposition. flattered them. "but you cannot defeat the determined mind of a peasant. etc.
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the "Times.. and who became the greatest of Biblical scholars. yet there is a great lesson in his will-power and wonderful tenacity of purpose. deaf pauper. till they elected him. render himself almost anything he wishes to become. are mere rigmarole. and name it in
. The aristocrats hated him. "The general of a large army may be defeated. who made shoes in the almshouse. While we would not by any means hold Carter Harrison up to youth as a model.

his neighbors said. the discouragement of early bankruptcy. He had nothing in the world but character and friends.CHAPTER III. and he sometimes slept on the counter in
. his enemies made fun of him. the rudeness of frontier society. Lincoln's will made his way.
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honor of the maiden to whom he was espoused." says a well-known American. "Last summer." That one purpose was made the ruling passion of his life. and the fluctuations of popular politics. he rose to the championship of union and freedom. he laughed at the idea of his being a lawyer. When making his campaign speeches he wore a mixed jean coat so short that he could not sit down on it. He read law barefoot under the trees. "I had the pleasure of dining in that princely mansion. He said he hadn't brains enough. showing the possibilities of our country. When his friends suggested law to him. and receiving this fact from the lips of the great shipbuilder of the Clyde. When his friends nominated him as a candidate for the legislature. Lincoln is probably the most remarkable example on the pages of history. flax and tow-linen trousers. From the poverty in which he was born. through the rowdyism of a frontier town. straw hat. and all the energies of his soul were put in requisition for its accomplishment. and pot-metal boots.

tightening his apron strings "in lieu of a dinner. Nor son.--one hundred miles. In the brave days of old. See Samuel Drew. to borrow a book to read before the sap-bush fire. nor wife. See Heyne. before daylight copying Coke on Littleton over and over again. Why were the Roman legionaries victorious? "For Romans. John F. and finally induced Lincoln to study law. Spared neither land nor gold."
. He who will pay the price for victory needs never fear final defeat. had got all of the education he had in a log schoolhouse without windows or doors. in Rome's quarrels. living on bread and water in a Dutch garret. See Thurlow Weed. Stuart. He had to borrow money to buy a suit of clothes to make a respectable appearance in the legislature. nor limb nor life." See young Lord Eldon. defying poverty and wading through the snow two miles. While he was in the legislature. told him how Clay had even inferior chances to his. an eminent lawyer of Springfield. sleeping many a night on a barn floor with only a book for his pillow. with rags for shoes. History is full of such examples. See Locke. and walked to take his seat at Vandalia.CHAPTER III.
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the store where he worked.

extravagance of living. from lack of energy and application. and stifles its compunctious visitings by persuading himself that. acknowledges the all-potent power of
. who has imbued his hands in the blood of his fellow-man. he was the victim of circumstances. it is made to stand a godfather and sponsor. from first to last. Go talk with the mediocre in talents and attainments. who has swamped his fortune by wild speculation. being outstripped in the race of life by those whom he had despised as his inferiors. says: "I am sure that a young man may be very much what he pleases. the weak-spirited man who.
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Fowell Buxton. Go talk with the bankrupt man of business. he has hurriedly patched up a treaty with conscience. writing to one of his sons. Go visit the incarcerated criminal. their positive sins and their less culpable shortcomings." Dr. and you will find that he. and you will find that. too.' and complacently regarding himself as the victim of ill-luck. and you will find that he vindicates his wonderful self-love by confounding the steps which he took indiscreetly with those to which he was forced by 'circumstances. Mathews has well said that "there is hardly a word in the whole human vocabulary which is more cruelly abused than the word 'luck.' To all the faults and failures of men. joining the temptations which were easy to avoid with those which were comparatively irresistible. or lack of energy.CHAPTER III. has made but little headway in the world. or who is guilty of less heinous crimes.

and whatever weakens or impairs it diminishes success. then." "Send for him. for they did not dare to trust their underlings. In came a man who said." hanging about our cities. send for him. Success in life is dependent largely upon the willpower. Napoleon was sent for.CHAPTER III. The will can be educated. and universities. Learn. like a withered leaf. What a lesson is Napoleon's life for the sickly. wishy-washy. then conquered Europe. thus fix your floating life." Paris was in the hands of a mob. came. "I know a young officer who has the courage and ability to quell this mob. dwarfed. country. there is hardly any wrong act or neglect to which this too fatally convenient word is not applied as a palliation. and leave it no longer to be carried hither and thither. dreaming of success. subjugated the authorities. ruled France. In short. subjugated the mob. to will decisively and strongly. from the most venial offense to the most flagrant. complaining of their hard lot. by every
. That which most easily becomes a habit in us is the will. the authorities were panic-stricken. send for him. and wondering why they are left in the rear in the great race of life.
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luck. sentimental "dudes." said they. and soothes his humbled pride by deeming himself the victim of ill-fortune.

He was rich when he discovered a little bookstore. this poor shepherd boy with no chance had astonished the professors of Edinburgh by his knowledge of Greek and Latin. Before he was nineteen. His desire for an education defied the extremest poverty. John Leyden. It seemed to him that an opportunity to get at books and lectures was all that any man could need. There were only six months before the place was to be filled. who thought this one of the most
. Hearing that a surgeon's assistant in the Civil Service was wanted. it is the will to labor. although he knew nothing whatever of medicine." It was this insatiable thirst for knowledge which held to his task. but nothing could daunt him. and in six months' time he actually took his degree with honor.CHAPTER III. "It is not talent that men lack.
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wind that blows. which was all the schooling he had. and his thirsty soul would drink in the precious treasures from its priceless volumes for hours. and no obstacle could turn him from his purpose. through poverty and discouragement. Barefoot and alone. not the power to produce. he walked six or eight miles daily to learn to read. Walter Scott. it is the purpose. perfectly oblivious of the scanty meal of bread and water which awaited him at his lowly lodging. Nothing could discourage him from trying to improve himself by study. a Scotch shepherd's son. he determined to apply for it.

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remarkable illustrations of perseverance. but even peas and gravel-stones. but told him the American war had broken out. Young Girard was captain of this sloop." Carlyle said of him: "One would incline at sight to back him against the world. and added: "But my boots need other doctoring. and he sailed for India. and that the British cruisers were all along the American coast. Sydney Smith said: "Webster was a living lie. Webster wrote and thanked him. A sloop was seen one morning off the mouth of Delaware Bay floating the flag of France and a signal of distress. went to his aid. and had no money. Girard did not know the way. His coming to Philadelphia seemed a lucky accident." Yet he became one of the greatest men in the world. and was on his way to a Canadian port with freight from New Orleans. No matter what he did. for they not only admit water. Webster was very poor even after he entered Dartmouth College. helped to fit him out. A friend sent him a recipe for greasing his boots. seeing his distress. The skipper loaned him five dollars to get the service of a pilot
. and would seize his vessel. because no man on earth could be as great as he looked. it always seemed to others to turn to his account." What seemed to be luck followed Stephen Girard all his life. He told him his only chance was to make a push for Philadelphia.

He bottled wine and cider. mastering the art of navigation. In 1780. When he began business for himself in Philadelphia. and the chagrin of his brothers' advancement. from groceries to old junk. soured his whole life. in which he had been
. He bought and sold anything. Being a foreigner. His father. At the age of eight he first discovered that he was blind in one eye. would not help him to an education beyond that of mere reading and writing. evidently thinking that he would never amount to anything. short. from which he made a good profit. stout. He sold the sloop and cargo in Philadelphia. Everything he touched prospered. He improved every leisure minute at sea. but sent his younger brothers to college. He had begun as a cabin boy at thirteen. But he was not the man to give up. The discovery of his blindness.CHAPTER III. it was hard for him to get a start. and with a repulsive face. and began business on the capital. the neglect of his father.
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who demanded his money in advance. there seemed to be nothing he would not do for money. Domingo trade. His sloop passed into the Delaware just in time to avoid capture by a British war vessel. and for nine years sailed between Bordeaux and the French West Indies. blind in one eye. unable to speak English. he resumed the New Orleans and St.

000 which the goods brought in Philadephia. are models of foresight and systematic planning. for they never returned. and would not allow the slightest departure from them. when a captain returned and had saved him several thousand dollars by buying his cargo of cheese
.
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engaged at the breaking out of the Revolution. attributed his great success to his luck. and Girard was the lucky possessor of $50. especially his jealous brother merchants. They probably fell victims to the cruel negroes. A number of the rich planters fled to his vessels with their valuables. Everybody. His letters. His plans and schemes were worked out with mathematical care. Here great success again attended him. Once. He had two vessels lying in one of the St. yet they would cause loss in ninety-nine other cases. He never left anything of importance to others. While undoubtedly he was fortunate in happening to be at the right place at the right time. which they left for safe keeping while they went back to their estates to secure more. Domingo ports when the great insurrection on that island broke out. laying out their routes and giving detailed instruction from which they were never allowed to deviate under any circumstances. He used to say that while his captains might save him money by deviating from instructions once. He was rigidly accurate in his instructions.CHAPTER III. accuracy. energy itself. written to his captains in foreign ports. yet he was precision. method. He left nothing to chance.

CHAPTER III. and died at last in the insane asylum. He married a servant girl of great beauty. that he discharged the captain on the spot. but she proved totally unfitted for him. poorer than that occupied by many of his employees. and the greatest care and zeal in improving them to their utmost possibilities. and many times what brought financial ruin to many others. Girard never lost a ship. Luck is not God's price for success: that is altogether too cheap. and a hundred to one against your repeating the same throw three times in succession: and
. there are thirty chances to one against your turning up a particular number. as the War of 1812. The mathematician tells you that if you throw the dice. and thought he was saving his employer a great deal of money by deviating from his instructions. although he was several thousand dollars richer. notwithstanding the latter had been faithful in his service for many years. Girard was so enraged. Girard lived in a dingy little house. only increased his wealth. What seemed luck with him was only good judgment and promptness in seizing opportunities. nor does he dicker with men.
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in another port than that in which he had been instructed to buy.

" he says to himself as he reads. an ignoramus utter lectures on philosophy? Many a young man who has read the story of John Wanamaker's romantic career has gained very little inspiration or help from it toward his own elevation and advancement. indomitable energy. "what a bonanza he fell into. a concentration which never scatters its forces.
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so on in an augmenting ratio. as has been suggested. a decision which never wavers. the habit of hard work. a cheerful disposition. that a good mother. an "ignominious love of detail. a determination which knows no defeat. or fate. namely. a good constitution. why does not luck make a fool speak words of wisdom. for he looks upon it as the result of good luck. and stick to it. courage which never falters. a self-mastery which can say No. and a high aim and noble purpose insure a very large measure of success. a blind man's buff among the laws? a ruse among the elements? a trick of Dame Nature? Has any scholar defined luck? any philosopher explained its nature? any chemist shown its composition? Is luck that strange.
. chance. What is luck? Is it." strict integrity and downright honesty." But a careful analysis of Wanamaker's life only enforces the same lesson taught by the analysis of most great lives. that does all things among men that they cannot account for? If so. unbounded enthusiasm in one's calling.CHAPTER III. "What a lucky fellow. nondescript fairy.

dry. but that. as a rule. upon men who are not afraid of dreary. manager's and superintendent's positions do not necessarily constitute success. a physician patients." that.
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Youth should be taught that there is something in circumstances. nine times out of ten. or a high position in life. Fortune smiles upon those who roll up their sleeves and put their shoulders to the wheel. that wealth often does place unworthy sons in high positions. and letting them fall at random on the floor. patients. position. what we call luck or
. professorships. an ordinary scholar a good professorship. that family influence does gain a lawyer clients. There is about as much chance of idleness and incapacity winning real success. and reaching the goal when a better walker finds the drawbridge up. that there is such a thing as a poor pedestrian happening to find no obstruction in his way. and so fails to win the race. as there would be in producing a Paradise Lost by shaking up promiscuously the separate words of Webster's Dictionary. and that persistent merit does succeed.CHAPTER III. He should be taught that in the long run. clients." that "diligence is the mother of good luck. by a life heroic. the street blockaded. the best man does win the best place. who. men of nerve and grit who do not turn aside for dirt and detail. irksome drudgery. conquers fate. The youth should be taught that "he alone is great. on the other hand.

is swift. and the ships will sail six hundred. Opportunity is coy. and indefatigable is of priceless value.
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fate is but a mere bugbear of the indolent. as a rule. one thousand. He climbs upon them to mountain heights.CHAPTER III. He surmounts them by his energy. or the careless can seize her:-"In idle wishes fools supinely stay: Be there a will and wisdom finds a way. before the slow. the careless. He makes a new path over them. But take Eric out and put in a stronger and bolder man. the indolent. "he will steer west and his ships will reach Newfoundland. and is at the top of his condition. the purposeless. plucky. stopping his path and hindering his progress. fifteen hundred miles further. and reach Labrador and New England. There is no chance in results. is gone." says Emerson. the unobservant. "If Eric's in robust health. and thirty years old at his departure from Greenland. and has slept well. does not see or seize his opportunity. It often cows enemies and dispels at the start opposition to one's undertakings which would otherwise be formidable. the indifferent. They cannot stop him." Obstacles tower before the living man like mountain chains." It has been well said that the very reputation of being strong willed. They do not much delay
. that the man who fails. the languid.

A man with an iron will. but what we long for and
. and he had long attained the highest triumphs of his art.CHAPTER III. Benjamin Franklin was past fifty before he began the study of science and philosophy.
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him. and makes temporary failures into stepping-stones to ultimate success. It is only the weak and vacillating who halt before adverse circumstances and obstacles. Arkwright was fifty years of age when he began to learn English grammar and improve his writing and spelling. with a determination that nothing shall check his career. How many a one has died "with all his music in him." It is astonishing what men who have come to their senses late in life have accomplished by a sudden resolution. when threescore years and ten were past. was past the age of fifty when he sat down to complete his world-known epic. We may not find time for what we would like. in his blindness. He transmutes difficulties into power. How many might have been giants who are only dwarfs. Milton. if he has perseverance and grit. is sure to succeed. "Yet I am learning." said Michael Angelo. and Scott at fifty-five took up his pen to redeem an enormous liability. The vacillating man is always pushed aside in the race of life. Even brains are second in importance to will.

CHAPTER III. Hunger breaks through stone walls. Success is also a great physical as well as mental tonic. and turns neither to the right nor the left. A man who can resolve vigorously upon a course of action. Johnson says: "Resolutions and success reciprocally produce each other. Coleridge. We could almost classify successes and failures by their various degrees of will-power. but who accomplished nothing worthy of their abilities. One talent with a will behind it will accomplish more than ten without it. The great linguist of Bologna mastered a hundred languages by taking them singly. as the lion fought the bulls. are successful men. though a paradise tempt him. is sure of success. Men like Sir James Mackintosh. and great success is almost impossible without it." Strong-willed men. have been deficient in will-power. we usually approximate if we do not fully reach. and many others who have dazzled the world with their brilliancy. and tends to strengthen the will-power.
. but who never accomplished a tithe of what they attempted.
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strive for with all our strength. stern necessity will find a way or make one. La Harpe. whatever distracts him. who keeps his eyes upon the goal. who were always raising our expectations that they were about to perform wonderful deeds. as a rule. Dr.

The consciousness of being looked upon as inferior. stung by consciousness of physical deformity or mental deficiencies. and misfortune. by the firm resolution of an iron will. as incapable of accomplishing what others accomplish. How many young men. without a charm of form or face. climbed to the very top of her profession. and who not only makes up for her deficiencies. who.CHAPTER III. The achievements of will-power are simply beyond computation. resolves to redeem herself from obscurity and commonness. the
. History is full of examples of men and women who have redeemed themselves from disgrace. but elevates herself into a prominence and importance which mere personal attractions could never have given her. have. Charlotte Cushman. raised themselves from mediocrity and placed themselves high above those who scorned them. How often we see this illustrated in the case of a young woman who suddenly becomes conscious that she is plain and unattractive. Scarcely anything in reason seems impossible to the man who can will strong enough and long enough. by a strong persistent exercise of will-power.
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I wish it were possible to show the youth of America the great part that the will might play in their success in life and in their happiness also. poverty. by prodigious exercise of her will and untiring industry.

that you are. even though he can scarcely speak above a whisper? In the House of Commons he makes his immortal speech on the Irish Church just the same. as in the case of Newton. who "trample upon impossibilities. Curran.
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sensitiveness at being considered a dunce in school." While this is not strictly true. who change the very front of the world. for such is the force of the human will."
. that we become. who do not wait for opportunities. joined to the Divine. and hundreds of others. to Alexander. Dr. "Be gone. sheer labor must unclench. of Sheridan." shouted the conquering Macedonian. Wellington. "I can't.CHAPTER III. who has only "unconditional surrender" for the enemy. "there is nothing impossible to him who will try. Goldsmith. that whatever we wish to be seriously. of Adam Clark. and with a true intention. has stung many a youth into a determination which has elevated him far above those who laughed at him. and every good is locked by nature in a granite hand." What cares Henry L. like Grant. It is men like Mirabeau. Bulwer for the suffocating cough. but make them. yet there is a deal of truth in it. "We have but what we make. it is impossible. "Whatever you wish." like Napoleon. Disraeli." said a foiled lieutenant. Chalmers.

Can he will strong enough. no grip on life? "The truest wisdom. I should call the strength of will the test of a young man's possibilities." An iron will without principle might produce a Napoleon. to be tossed about hither and thither. but with character it would make a Wellington or a Grant. a mere sport of chance. What is a man without a will? He is like an engine without steam.CHAPTER III. selfish. and hold whatever he undertakes with an iron grip? It is the iron grip that takes the strong hold on life."
." said Napoleon. They could not half will. they lacked will-power. "The undivided will 'T is that compels the elements and wrings A human music from the indifferent air. I should say unhesitatingly. always at the mercy of those who have wills. where everything is pusher or pushed. What chance is there in this crowding. greedy world. for a young man with no will. "is a resolute determination. untarnished by ambition or avarice.
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Were I called upon to express in a word the secret of so many failures among those who started out in life with high hopes. pushing.

to this thought I hold with firm persistence. Man owes his growth chiefly to that active striving of the will. through all change of companions. that encounter with difficulty. or fortunes.CHAPTER IV. He only earns his freedom and existence Who daily conquers them anew. changes never.--BEECHER. Victories that are easy are cheap.
SUCCESS UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
.--WASHINGTON IRVING. I know no such unquestionable badge and ensign of a sovereign mind as that tenacity of purpose which. Those only are worth having which come as the result of hard fighting. bates no jot of heart or hope.
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CHAPTER IV. Yes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortunes. The last result of wisdom stamps it true. which we call effort. or parties. and it is astonishing to find how often results that seemed impracticable are thus made possible.--EMERSON. but wearies out opposition and arrives at its port. but great minds rise above them.--EPES SARGENT. GOETHE.

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"I have here three teams that I want to get over to Staten Island," said a boy of twelve one day in 1806 to the innkeeper at South Amboy, N. J. "If you will put us across, I'll leave with you one of my horses in pawn, and if I don't send you back six dollars within forty-eight hours you may keep the horse." The innkeeper asked the reason for this novel proposition, and learned that the lad's father had contracted to get the cargo of a vessel stranded near Sandy Hook, and take it to New York in lighters. The boy had been sent with three wagons, six horses, and three men, to carry the cargo across a sand-spit to the lighters. The work accomplished, he had started with only six dollars to travel a long distance home over the Jersey sands, and reached South Amboy penniless. "I'll do it," said the innkeeper, as he looked into the bright honest eyes of the boy. The horse was soon redeemed. ****** [Illustration: WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT] How can you keep a determined man from success: Place stumbling-blocks in his way, and he uses them for stepping-stones. Imprison him, and he produces the "Pilgrim's Progress." Deprive him of eyesight, and he writes

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the "Conquest of Mexico." ****** "My son," said this same boy's mother, on the first of May, 1810, when he asked her to lend him one hundred dollars to buy a boat, having imbibed a strong liking for the sea; "on the twenty-seventh of this month you will be sixteen years old. If, by that time, you will plow, harrow, and plant with corn the eight-acre lot, I will advance you the money." The field was rough and stony, but the work was done in time, and well done. From this small beginning Cornelius Vanderbilt laid the foundation of a colossal fortune. He would often work all night; and, as he was never absent from his post by day, he soon had the best business in New York harbor. In 1813, when it was expected that New York would be attacked by British ships, all the boatmen except Cornelius put in bids to convey provisions to the military posts around New York, naming extremely low rates, as the contractor would be exempted from military duty. "Why don't you send in a bid?" asked his father. "Of what use?" replied young Vanderbilt; "they are offering to do the work at half price. It can't be done at such rates." "Well," said his father, "it can do no harm to try for it." So, to please his father, but with no hope of success, Cornelius made an offer fair to both

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sides, but did not go to hear the award. When his companions had all returned with long faces, he went to the commissary's office and asked if the contract had been given. "Oh, yes," was the reply; "that business is settled. Cornelius Vanderbilt is the man. What?" he asked, seeing that the youth was apparently thunderstruck, "is it you?" "My name is Cornelius Vanderbilt," said the boatman. "Well," said the commissary, "don't you know why we have given the contract to you?" "No." "Why, it is because we want this business done, and we know you'll do it." Character gives confidence. In 1818 he owned two or three of the finest coasting schooners in New York harbor, and had a capital of nine thousand dollars. Seeing that steam-vessels would soon win supremacy over those carrying sails only, he gave up his fine business to become the captain of a steamboat at one thousand dollars a year. For twelve years he ran between New York city and New Brunswick, N. J. In 1829 he began business as a steamboat owner, in the face of opposition so bitter that he lost his last dollar. But the tide turned, and he prospered so rapidly that he at length owned over one hundred steamboats. He early identified himself with the growing railroad interests of the country, and became the richest man of his day in America.

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Barnum began the race of business life barefoot, for at the age of fifteen he was obliged to buy on credit the shoes he wore at his father's funeral. He was a remarkable example of success under difficulties. There was no keeping him down; no opposition daunted him, no obstacles were too great for him to overcome. Think of a man being ruined at fifty years of age; yes, worse than ruined, for he was heavily in debt besides. Yet on the very day of his downfall he begins to rise again, wringing victory from defeat by his indomitable persistence. "Eloquence must have been born with you," said a friend to J. P. Curran. "Indeed, my dear sir, it was not," replied the orator, "it was born some three and twenty years and some months after me." Speaking of his first attempt at a debating club, he said: "I stood up, trembling through every fibre, but remembering that in this I was but imitating Tully, I took courage and had actually proceeded almost as far as 'Mr. Chairman,' when, to my astonishment and terror, I perceived that every eye was turned on me. There were only six or seven present, and the room could not have contained as many more; yet was it, to my panic-stricken imagination, as if I were the central object in nature, and assembled millions were gazing upon me in breathless expectation. I became dismayed and dumb. My friends cried, 'Hear him!' but there was nothing to hear." He was nicknamed "Orator Mum," and well did he deserve the title

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until he ventured to stare in astonishment at a speaker who was "culminating chronology by the most preposterous anachronisms." "I doubt not," said the annoyed speaker, "that 'Orator Mum' possesses wonderful talents for eloquence, but I would recommend him to show it in future by some more popular method than his silence." Stung by the taunt, Curran rose and gave the man a "piece of his mind," speaking quite fluently in his anger. Encouraged by this success, he took great pains to become a good speaker. He corrected his habit of stuttering by reading favorite passages aloud every day slowly and distinctly, and spoke at every opportunity. Bunyan wrote his "Pilgrim's Progress" on the untwisted papers used to cork the bottles of milk brought for his meals. Gifford wrote his first copy of a mathematical work, when a cobbler's apprentice, on small scraps of leather; and Rittenhouse, the astronomer, first calculated eclipses on his plow handle. A poor Irish lad, so pitted by smallpox that boys made sport of him, earned his living by writing little ballads for street musicians. Eight cents a day was often all he could earn. He traveled through France and Italy, begging his way by singing and playing the flute at the cottages of the peasantry. At twenty-eight he was penniless in London, and lived in the beggars' quarters in Axe Lane. In his

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poverty, he set up as a doctor in the suburbs of London. He wore a second-hand coat of rusty velvet, with a patch on the left breast which he adroitly covered with his three-cornered hat during his visits; and we have an amusing anecdote of his contest of courtesy with a patient who persisted in endeavoring to relieve him of his hat, which only made him press it more devoutly to his heart. He often had to pawn his clothes to keep from starving. He sold his "Life of Voltaire" for twenty dollars. After great hardship he managed to publish his "Polite Learning in Europe," and this brought him to public notice. Next came "The Traveller," and the wretched man in a Fleet Street garret found himself famous. His landlady once arrested him for rent, but Dr. Johnson came to his relief, took from his desk the manuscript of the "Vicar of Wakefield," and sold it for three hundred dollars. He spent two years revising "The Deserted Village" after it was first written. Generous to a fault, vain and improvident, imposed on by others, he was continually in debt; although for his "History of the Earth and Animated Nature" he received four thousand dollars, and some of his works, as, for instance, "She Stoops to Conquer," had a large sale. But in spite of fortune's frown and his own weakness, he won success and fame. The world, which so often comes too late with its assistance and laurels, gave to the weak, gentle, loving author of "The Vicar of Wakefield" a monument in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.

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The poor, scrofulous, and almost blind boy, Samuel Johnson, was taken by his mother to receive the touch of Queen Anne, which was supposed to heal the "King's Evil." He entered Oxford as a servant, copying lectures from a student's notebooks, while the boys made sport of the bare feet showing through great holes in his shoes. Some one left a pair of new shoes at his door, but he was too proud to be helped, and threw them out of the window. He was so poor that he was obliged to leave college, and at twenty-six married a widow of forty-eight. He started a private school with his wife's money; but, getting only three pupils, was obliged to close it. He went to London, where he lived on nine cents a day. In his distress he wrote a poem in which appeared in capital letters the line, "Slow rises worth by poverty depressed," which attracted wide attention. He suffered greatly in London for thirteen years, being arrested once for a debt of thirteen dollars. At forty he published "The Vanity of Human Wishes," in which were these lines:-"Then mark what ills the scholar's life assail; Toil, envy, want, the patron and the jail." When asked how he felt about his failures, he replied: "Like a monument,"--that is, steadfast, immovable. He was an indefatigable worker. In the evenings of a single week

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he wrote "Rasselas," a beautiful little story of the search for happiness, to get money to pay the funeral expenses of his mother. With six assistants he worked seven years on his Dictionary, which made his fortune. His name was then in everybody's mouth, and when he no longer needed help, assistance, as usual, came from every quarter. The great universities hastened to bestow their degrees, and King George invited him to the palace. Lord Mansfield raised himself by indefatigable industry from oatmeal porridge and poverty to affluence and the Lord Chief Justice's Bench. Of five thousand articles sent every year to "Lippincott's Magazine," only two hundred were accepted. How much do you think Homer got for his Iliad? or Dante for his Paradise? Only bitter bread and salt, and going up and down other people's stairs. In science, the man who discovered the telescope, and first saw heaven, was paid with a dungeon: the man who invented the microscope, and first saw earth, died from starvation, driven from his home. It is very clear indeed that God means all good work and talk to be done for nothing. Shakespeare's "Hamlet" was sold for about twenty-five dollars; but his autograph has sold for five thousand dollars.

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During the ten years in which he made his greatest discoveries, Isaac Newton could hardly pay two shillings a week to the Royal Society of which he was a member. Some of his friends wanted to get him excused from this payment, but he would not allow them to act. There are no more interesting pages in biography than those which record how Emerson, as a child, was unable to read the second volume of a certain book, because his widowed mother could not afford the amount (five cents) necessary to obtain it from the circulating library. Linnaeus was so poor when getting his education, that he had to mend his shoes with folded paper, and often had to beg his meals of his friends. Who in the days of the First Empire cared to recall the fact that Napoleon, Emperor and King, was once forced to borrow a louis from Talma, when he lived in a garret on the Quai Conti? David Livingstone at ten years of age was put into a cotton factory near Glasgow. Out of his first week's wages he bought a Latin Grammar, and studied in the night schools for years. He would sit up and study till midnight unless his mother drove him to bed, notwithstanding he had to be at the factory at six in the morning. He mastered Virgil and

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Horace in this way, and read extensively, besides studying botany. So eager and thirsty for knowledge was he, that he would place his book before him on the spinning-jenny, and amid the deafening roar of machinery would pore over its pages. George Eliot said of the years of close work upon her "Romola," "I began it a young woman, I finished it an old woman." One of Emerson's biographers says, referring to his method of rewriting, revising, correcting, and eliminating: "His apples were sorted over and over again, until only the very rarest, the most perfect, were left. It did not matter that those thrown away were very good and helped to make clear the possibilities of the orchard, they were unmercifully cast aside." Carlyle's books were literally wrung out of him. The pains he took to satisfy himself of a relatively insignificant fact were incredible. Before writing his essay on Diderot, he read twenty-five volumes at the rate of one per day. He tells Edward Fitzgerald that for the twentieth time he is going over the confused records of the battle of Naseby, that he may be quite sure of the topography. "All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise and wonder," says Johnson, "are instances of the resistless force of perseverance: it is by this that the quarry becomes a pyramid, and that distant countries are united

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with canals. If a man was to compare the effect of a single stroke of the pickaxe, or of one impression of the spade, with the general design and last result, he would be overwhelmed by the sense of their disproportion; yet those petty operations, incessantly continued, in time surmount the greatest difficulties, and mountains are leveled, and oceans bounded, by the slender force of human beings." The Rev. Eliphalet Nott, a pulpit orator, was especially noted for a sermon on the death of Alexander Hamilton, the great statesman, who was shot in a duel by Aaron Burr. Although Nott had managed in some way to get his degree at Brown University, he was at one time so poor after he entered the ministry that he could not buy an overcoat. His wife sheared their only cosset sheep in January, wrapped it in burlap blankets to keep it from freezing, carded and spun and wove the wool, and made it into an overcoat for him. Great men never wait for opportunities; they make them. Nor do they wait for facilities or favoring circumstances; they seize upon whatever is at hand, work out their problem, and master the situation. A young man determined and willing will find a way or make one. A Franklin does not require elaborate apparatus; he can bring electricity from the clouds with a common kite. A Watt can make a model of the condensing steam-engine out of

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an old syringe used to inject the arteries of dead bodies previous to dissection. A Dr. Black can discover latent heat with a pan of water and two thermometers. A Newton can unfold the composition of light and the origin of colors with a prism, a lens, and a piece of pasteboard. A Humphry Davy can experiment with kitchen pots and pans, and a Faraday can experiment on electricity by means of old bottles, in his spare minutes while a book-binder. When science was in its cradle the Marquis of Worcester, an English nobleman, imprisoned in the Tower of London, was certainly not in a very good position to do anything for the world, but would not waste his time. The cover of a vessel of hot water blown on before his eyes led to a series of observations, which he published later in a book called "Century of Inventions." These observations were a sort of text-book on the power of steam, which resulted in Newcomen's steam-engine, which Watt afterward perfected. A Ferguson maps out the heavenly bodies, lying on his back, by means of threads with beads stretched between himself and the stars. Not in his day of bodily strength and political power, but blind, decrepit, and defeated with his party, Milton composed "Paradise Lost." Great men have found no royal road to their triumph. It is always the old route, by way of industry and perseverance.

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The farmer boy, Elihu B. Washburn, taught school at ten dollars per month, and early learned the lesson that it takes one hundred cents to make a dollar. In after years he fought "steals" in Congress, until he was called the "Watchdog of the Treasury." From his long membership he became known as the "Father of the House." He administered the oath to Schuyler Colfax as Speaker three times. He recommended Grant as colonel of a regiment of volunteers. The latter, when President, appointed him Secretary of State, and, later, Minister to France. During the reign of the Commune, the representatives of nearly all other foreign nations fled in dismay, but Washburn remained at his post. Shells exploded close to his office, and fell all around it, but he did not leave even when Paris was in flames. For a time he was really the minister of all foreign countries, in Paris; and represented Prussia for almost a year. The Emperor William conferred upon him the Order of the Red Eagle, and gave him a jeweled star of great value. How could the poor boy, Elihu Burritt, working nearly all the daylight in a blacksmith's shop, get an education? He had but one book in his library, and carried that in his hat. But this boy with no chance became one of America's wonders. When teaching school, Garfield was very poor. He tore his only blue jean trousers, but concealed the rents by pins

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until night, when he retired early that his boarding mistress might mend his clothes. "When you get to be a United States Senator," said she, "no one will ask what kind of clothes you wore when teaching school." Although Michael Angelo made himself immortal in three different occupations, his fame might well rest upon his dome of St. Peter as an architect, upon his "Moses" as a sculptor, and upon his "Last Judgment" as a painter; yet we find by his correspondence now in the British Museum, that when he was at work on his colossal bronze statue of Pope Julius II., he was so poor that he could not have his younger brother come to visit him at Bologna, because he had but one bed in which he and three of his assistants slept together. "I was always at the bottom of my purse," said Zola, in describing the struggles of his early years of authorship. "Very often I had not a sou left, and not knowing, either, where to get one. I rose generally at four in the morning, and began to study after a breakfast consisting of one raw egg. But no matter, those were good times. After taking a walk along the quays, I entered my garret, and joyfully partaking of a dinner of three apples, I sat down to work. I wrote, and I was happy. In winter I would allow myself no fire; wood was too expensive--only on fête days was I able to afford it. But I had several pipes of tobacco and a candle

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for three sous. A three-sous candle, only think of it! It meant a whole night of literature to me." James Brooks, once the editor and proprietor of the "New York Daily Express," and later an eminent congressman, began life as a clerk in a store in Maine, and when twenty-one received for his pay a hogshead of New England rum. He was so eager to go to college that he started for Waterville with his trunk on his back, and when he was graduated he was so poor and plucky that he carried his trunk on his back to the station when he went home. When Elias Howe, harassed by want and woe, was in London completing his first sewing-machine, he had frequently to borrow money to live on. He bought beans and cooked them himself. He also borrowed money to send his wife back to America. He sold his first machine for five pounds, although it was worth fifty, and then he pawned his letters patent to pay his expenses home. The boy Arkwright begins barbering in a cellar, but dies worth a million and a half. The world treated his novelties just as it treats everybody's novelties--made infinite objection, mustered all the impediments, but he snapped his fingers at their objections, and lived to become honored and wealthy.

we go prepared to be hacked in pieces. said that coal gas would give a good light. he exclaimed. Walter Scott ridiculed the idea of lighting London by "smoke. "Everywhere. and could be conveyed into buildings in pipes." He said this with tremendous emphasis." but
. calumny. toward the close of the eighteenth century. "that a great soul gives utterance to its thoughts. or to be blown to bits by shot and shell. "Will any one explain how there can be a light without a wick?" asked a member of Parliament. but Mr. to be riddled by bullets. Even Sir Charles Napier fiercely opposed the introduction of steam power into the Royal Navy. we do not go prepared to be boiled alive.
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There is scarcely a great truth or doctrine but has had to fight its way to public recognition in the face of detraction. Paul's for a gasometer?" was the sneering question of even the great scientist. Speaker. In the House of Commons. Speaker.CHAPTER IV. when we enter Her Majesty's naval service and face the chances of war." says Heine. "Do you intend taking the dome of St. Humphry Davy. when William Murdock." Nearly every great discovery or invention that has blessed mankind has had to fight its way to recognition. there also is a Golgotha. and persecution. even against the opposition of the most progressive men. "Mr.

and. Titian used to crush the flowers to get their color. By the aid of others' eyes. at which the mountaineers gazed in wonder. easel and stool. he lost one eye by a hard piece of bread thrown during a "biscuit battle. William H. But the boy had pluck and determination.
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he soon used it at Abbotsford." then so common after meals. While at college. Then he spent ten years more. Prescott was a remarkable example of what a boy with "no chance" can do. "That boy will beat me one day. and other articles in the studio. and turned all his energies in that direction. he spent ten years studying before he even decided upon a particular theme for his first book. before he
. from sympathy. poring over old archives and manuscripts. He set his heart upon being a historian.CHAPTER IV." said an old painter as he watched a little fellow named Michael Angelo making drawings of pot and brushes. the other eye became almost useless. and painted the white walls of his father's cottage in Tyrol with all sorts of pictures. The barefoot boy did persevere until he had overcome every difficulty and become a master of his art. and would not lead a useless life. and Davy achieved one of his greatest triumphs by experimenting with gas until he had invented his safety lamp.

From the plain fields and lowlands of Avon came the Shakespearean genius which has charmed the world." Surroundings which men call unfavorable cannot prevent the unfolding of your powers.CHAPTER IV." What a lesson in his life for young men! What a rebuke to those who have thrown away their opportunities and wasted their lives! "Galileo with an opera-glass. "whose mother and father died when he was but six years old. Daniel Webster. when Christ came upon earth. Columbus found the new world in an undecked boat." said Emerson. "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" "I once knew a little colored boy. and in cold weather would crawl into a meal-bag head foremost. His early abode was a place so poor and so much despised that men thought He could not be the Christ. have often come the leaders and benefactors of our race. in utter astonishment.
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published his "Ferdinand and Isabella. From among the rock-ribbed hills of New Hampshire sprang the greatest of American orators and statesmen. and had no one to care for him. He was a slave. Indeed. asking. He slept on a dirt floor in a hovel." said Frederick Douglass. and homes to which luxury is a stranger. "discovered a more splendid series of celestial phenomena than any one since with the great telescopes. and leave his feet in
. From the crowded ranks of toil.

That boy was Frederick Douglass." Where shall we find an illustration more impressive than in Abraham Lincoln. of what real parentage we know not. He wore broadcloth. and many times has he crawled under the barn or stable and secured eggs. with no gleam of light. which he would roast in the fire and eat. squalor. a young manhood
. and he learned to spell from an old Webster's spelling-book. He would then preach and speak. and to read and write from posters on cellar and barn doors.
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the ashes to keep them warm. nor fair surrounding. in a hovel. United States diplomat. Schools were unknown to him. United States marshal. What was possible for me is possible for you.CHAPTER IV. and accumulated some wealth. and soon became well known. United States recorder. Often he would roast an ear of corn and eat it to satisfy his hunger. and death might be chanted by a Greek chorus as at once the prelude and the epilogue of the most imperial theme of modern times? Born as lowly as the Son of God. so long will you fail to command the respect of your fellow-men. but a tow-linen shirt. and didn't have to divide crumbs with the dogs under the table. as you do. reared in penury. career. whose life. So long as you remain in ignorance. Strive earnestly to add to your knowledge. That boy did not wear pantaloons. while boys and men would help him. Don't think because you are colored you can't accomplish anything. He became presidential elector.

The story is told of a man in London deprived of both legs and arms. Instead of being a burden to his family he was the most important contributor to their welfare. and Sumner. raised to supreme command at a supreme moment. and intrusted with the destiny of a nation. who managed to write with his mouth and perform other things so remarkable as to enable him to earn a fair living. to be snatched from obscurity. Dropping the pen from his mouth. after which he would proceed to embellish the lines by many skillful flourishes. ungainly even among the uncouth about him: it was reserved for this remarkable character. with scarcely a natural grace. and was in many other ways a wonderful man.
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vexed by weird dreams and visions. while this strange figure was brought by unseen hands to the front. He also painted with a brush. the most experienced and accomplished men of the day. statesmen famous and trained.
. Then he would take a pen and write some verses. thread the needle. The great leaders of his party were made to stand aside. and make several stitches. singularly awkward. and given the reins of power. he would next take up a needle and thread. pinning them at the corner to make them hold. He would lay certain sheets of paper together. and Chase. men like Seward. were sent to the rear.CHAPTER IV. late in life. also with his mouth.

R. and will make a more accurate duplicate than can most boat-builders whose sight is perfect. but went to work with his accustomed energy. John B. He has superintended the construction of some of the swiftest torpedo boats and steam and sailing yachts afloat. He once lost his means of support in India. and an able member of Parliament. is the founder and head of one of the most noted shipbuilding establishments in the world.. He ate with his fork attached to his stump of an arm. but can plan vessels and conduct business without him. He was a good conversationalist. of Bristol. but never before did any one fill the office so well.
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Arthur Cavanagh. People thought it strange that Gladstone should appoint blind Henry Fawcett Postmaster-General of Great Britain. and obtained employment as a carrier of dispatches. a skillful fisherman and sailor. and one of the best cross country riders in Ireland.CHAPTER IV.. P. After examining a vessel's hull or a good model of it.
. He frequently takes his turn at the wheel in sailing his vessels on trial trips. was born without arms or legs. he will give detailed instructions for building another just like it. although blind since he was fifteen years old. his body being strapped to the saddle. yet it is said that he was a good shot. Herreshoff. He is aided greatly by his younger brother Nathaniel. I. M. and wrote holding his pen in his teeth. In riding he held the bridle in his mouth.

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The Rev. among them a very careful history of the Mississippi Valley." and "Jesus keep Me near the Cross.000 miles in missionary work.
. who lost his sight when a child. O Gentle Saviour. five hundred blind private teachers. fifteen or more blind composers and publishers of music. was a teacher of the blind for many years. and several blind dealers in musical instruments. William H. of New York. In ten years he traveled about 200." "Rescue the Perishing. He has long been chaplain of the lower house of Congress.CHAPTER IV. Milburn. one hundred blind church organists. studied for the ministry. which closes behind him to all others." Nor are these by any means the only examples of blind people now doing their full share of the world's work. She has written nearly three thousand hymns. There is no open door to the temple of success. Every one who enters makes his own door. He has written half a dozen books. one hundred and fifty blind teachers of music in schools for the blind. and was ordained before he attained his majority. In the United States alone there are engaged in musical occupation one hundred and fifty blind piano tuners. Blind Fanny Crosby." "Saviour more than Life to Me. not even permitting his own children to pass. among which are "Pass Me not.

A modern writer says that it is one of the mysteries of our life that genius. dreary day in November. Its greatest works have been achieved by the sorrowing ones of the world in tears and despair. For months and years she worked. not in the tapestried library. she opened it. She was paid $20. succeeding at last in producing brilliant lights of different colors. on a rainy. Happening to think of a box of which her husband had spoken. Not in the brilliant salon. went to Washington. but often in adversity and destitution.000 for the right to manufacture them in our navy. a young widow in Philadelphia sat wondering how she could feed and clothe three little ones left dependent by the death of her husband.CHAPTER IV. and found therein an envelope containing directions for a code of colored light signals to be used at night on the ocean. The system was not complete. Mrs. that noblest gift of God to man. amidst
. but she perfected it. Nearly all the blockade runners captured in the Civil War were taken by the aid of the Coston signals. although the idea was valuable. is genius usually born and nurtured. a naval officer. An admiral soon wrote that the signals were good for nothing. not in ease and competence. Coston introduced them into several European navies.
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Nearly forty years ago. and induced the Secretary of the Navy to give it a trial. is nourished by poverty. and became wealthy. which are also considered invaluable in the Life Saving Service.

with tears in his eyes and a little bundle of clothes in his hand. and amid scenes like these unpropitious. the guides and teachers of their kind. and his mother was forced to send Chauncey out. repulsive. when his father took him into his blacksmith shop at Plymouth. for he had no boots until he was nearly twenty-one. Chauncey Jerome's education was limited to three months in the district school each year until he was ten. Money was a scarce article with young Chauncey. his shoes sometimes full of snow. and often chopped by moonlight for neighbors at less than a dime a load.
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the harassing cares of a straitened household. have become the companions of kings. have men labored. He once chopped a load of wood for one cent. and in the deep gloom of uncheered despair. His new employer kept him at work early and late chopping down trees all day. Conn. His father died when he was eleven. in bare and fireless garrets. and trained themselves. studied. with the noise of squalid children. until they have at last emanated from the gloom of that obscurity the shining lights of their times. At fourteen he was apprenticed for seven years to a carpenter. This is its most frequent birthplace. to make nails. who gave him only board and
. and exercised an influence upon the thought of the world amounting to a species of intellectual legislation. wretched surroundings. in the turbulence of domestic contentions.CHAPTER IV. to earn a living on a farm..

He had collected a vast store of materials. Green was struggling against a mortal illness. He acted on the idea." Chauncey pondered long over this rumor. He tried his hand at the first opportunity.
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clothes. After he had learned his trade he frequently walked thirty miles to a job with his kit upon his back. The very idea is ridiculous. One night he happened to think that a cheap clock could be made of brass as well as of wood. for it had long been his dream to become a great clock-maker. "If he should. When he got an order to make twelve at twelve dollars apiece he thought his fortune was made. He made millions at the rate of six hundred a day." said another. swell. In the extremity of ruin and defeat he applied himself with
. "The History of the English People" was written while J." said one. One day he heard people talking of Eli Terry. exporting them to all parts of the globe. of Plymouth. "he could not possibly sell so many. and his physicians said they could do nothing to arrest it. who had undertaken to make two hundred clocks in one lot. and had begun to write. when his disease made a sudden and startling progress. and would not shrink. and soon learned to make a wooden clock. Several times during his apprenticeship he carried his tools thirty miles on his back to his work at different places. and became the first great manufacturer of brass clocks.CHAPTER IV. "He'll never live long enough to finish them. or warp appreciably in any climate. R.

driven by death as he was. while from hour to hour and day to day his life was prolonged." wrote it. day by day. and then.CHAPTER IV. Yet so conscientious was he that. "who has not suffered?" Schiller produced his greatest tragedies in the midst of physical suffering almost amounting to torture. warned by palsy of the approach of death. Beethoven
.
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greater fidelity to his work." when oppressed by debt and struggling with a fatal disease." "What does he know. sometimes through hours of intense suffering. and struggling with distress and suffering. I will try to win but one week more to write it down. too weak to lift a book. Mozart composed his great operas. The time that might still be left to him for work must henceforth be wrested. When it was done he began the "Conquest of England. rejected it all and began again. The writing occupied five months. reviewed it. he said: "I still have some work to do that I know is good. dissatisfied with it." He lay. by the sheer force of his own will and his inflexible determination to finish the "Making of England. from the grasp of death. Handel was never greater than when. "I can work no more. and last of all his "Requiem." said a sage. As death laid its cold fingers on his heart. his doctors said. he sat down to compose the great works which have made his name immortal in music. or to hold a pen. dictating every word. the greater part of the book was rewritten five times." It was not until he was actually dying that he said.

CHAPTER IV. His first effort that met with success was against his guardian. however. jeers. hanging his head in great confusion. a noted actor. and whom he compelled to refund a part of his fortune. One of his auditors. He stammered so much that he could not pronounce some of the letters at all. but was hissed down as before.
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produced his greatest works amidst gloomy sorrow. who had defrauded him. believed the young man had something in him. He was so discouraged by his defeats that he determined to give up forever all attempts at oratory. All his first attempts were nearly drowned by the hisses. when oppressed by almost total deafness. Perhaps no one ever battled harder to overcome obstacles which would have disheartened most men than Demosthenes. As he withdrew. and encouraged him to persevere. and at the same time accustom
. He accordingly appeared again in public. He had such a weak voice. in order to overcome his stammering. encouraged him still further to try to overcome his impediment. and was so short of breath. and such an impediment in his speech. he determined to be an orator cost what it might. and scoffs of his audiences. and his breath would give out before he could get through a sentence. Satyrus. He went to the seashore and practiced amid the roar of the breakers with small pebbles in his mouth. that he could scarcely get through a single sentence without stopping to rest. Finally.

He recovered the model.CHAPTER IV. To clean a pound of cotton required the labor of a slave for a day. yet the courts united with the men who had infringed his patents to rob him of the reward of his ingenuity and industry. He worked in secret for many months in a cellar. a young man from New England. His awkward gestures were also corrected by long and determined drill before a mirror. He had started the South in a great industry. teaching school in Georgia. and other machines were made without his consent.
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himself to the hisses and tumults of his audience. but the principle was stolen.
. At last he abandoned the whole thing in disgust. and with such success that he accumulated a fortune. In vain he tried to protect his right in the courts. and determined to invent a machine to do the work. and turned his attention to making improvements in firearms. Disheartened by the expense of removing the troublesome seeds. Southern planters were seriously considering the abandonment of cotton culture. and added millions to her wealth. and at last made a machine which cleaned the cotton perfectly and rapidly. for Southern juries would almost invariably decide against him. saw the state of affairs. Just as success crowned his long labor thieves broke into the cellar and stole his model. He overcame his short breath by practicing speaking while running up steep and difficult places on the shore. Eli Whitney.

and can smoke and bargain at the same time. and then became a preacher. worked at the anvil nine years in Pennsylvania. He thrives with the Spaniard. and he will make it. if. He never meddles with politics. The native scorns such drudgery. and employs his newly imported countrymen. No office is too menial or too laborious for him. becomes a contractor for produce. unless it kills him. He has harder work with the Englishman. but he will adopt any creed.
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Robert Collyer. soon winning national renown. Climate has no effect on him: it cannot stop his hands. but he saves what he gets. and carefully follow any observances. He is too quick for the Dutchman. He is not particularly scrupulous in matters of opinion. A shrewd observer says of John Chinaman: "No sooner does he put his foot among strangers than he begins to work. the Chinaman toils patiently on. and is continually adding to his store. for they are dangerous and not profitable.CHAPTER IV. commences trade in the smallest possible way. who have come to seek their fortune as he did. and if it
. who brought his bride in the steerage when he came to America at the age of twenty-seven. and he has warehouses. and grows rich. He has come to make money. and remains poor. he can confirm or improve his position. but still he is too much for him. His frugality requires but little: he barely lives. and works while the latter sleeps. by so doing. A few years pass by. buys foreign goods by the cargo. and succeeds.

ease. position. scorned by queens. and to judge a whole people by a few vagabonds in a provincial seaport. He keeps the word he pledges. and he composes the immortal "Pilgrim's Progress. temperate. leaky vessels. and uncomplaining. pleasure. mutiny of sailors. and reputation. he dies in harness. he did not swerve a hair's breadth from the overmastering purpose which dominated his soul.CHAPTER IV. and he makes spurs of his poverty to urge him on. Place stumbling-blocks in his way and he takes them for stepping-stones. he is diligent. You cannot keep a determined man from success. and he writes the Waverley Novels. ridicule. battling for money till his last breath. life itself if need be. storms. ostracism. could not shake his mighty purpose. but he pushed his suit against an incredulous and ridiculing world. Whoever he may be. and in whatever position. pays his debts." Columbus was dismissed as a fool from court after court. The words "New World" were graven upon his heart. and on them will climb to greatness. whose morals and manners have not been improved by foreign society. Rebuffed by kings. Take away his money. Cripple him. must be sacrificed. and is capable of noble and generous actions. Threats.
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does. whether in his own or a foreign country. Lock him up in a dungeon." Put him in a cradle in a log
. It has been customary to speak lightly of him.

but he kept on working. and Versalius [Transcriber's note: Vesalius?] was condemned for dissecting the human body. the communists refused to grant the request. perpetual plodding. one of the profoundest thinkers the world has produced. of common every-day industry! When Lavoisier the chemist asked that his execution might be postponed for a few days in order to ascertain the results of the experiments he was conducting in prison. but their names shall live as long as time shall last. undaunted.
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cabin in the wilderness of America." Dr." Roger Bacon. and have encountered the greatest opposition. John Hunter said: "The few things I have been enabled to do have been accomplished under the greatest difficulties. Bruno was burned in Rome for revealing the heavens." and he was forced to flee from his country. was terribly persecuted for his studies in
. Kossuth was two years in prison at Buda. and in a few years you will find him in the Capitol at the head of the greatest nation on the globe. Would it were possible to convince the struggling youth of to-day that all that is great and noble and true in the history of the world is the result of infinite pains-taking. saying: "The Republic has no need of philosophers.CHAPTER IV. Priestley's house was burned and his chemical library destroyed by a mob shouting: "No philosophers.

his books were burned in public. He had to return to England to repair his vessel. after many hardships. He set out at once. and he was kept in prison for ten years. He then heard of another ship. in Boston. yet he persevered and won success. talking about a Spanish ship. which was supposed to have money on board. wrecked off the Bahama Islands. but he turned the ship's guns on
. and. He searched and searched for a long time in vain. He was accused of dealing in magic. The Duke of Wellington was mobbed in the streets of London and his windows were broken while his wife lay dead in the house.
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natural philosophy. wrecked off Port De La Plata many years before. discovered the lost treasure. Young Phips determined to find it. and he had to wait for four years before he could raise money to return. heard some sailors on the street. was then on the throne. William Phips.CHAPTER IV. for aid. He set sail for England and importuned Charles II. His crew mutinied and threatened to throw him overboard. but the "Iron Duke" never faltered in his course. when a young man. But he remained firm. To his delight the king fitted up the ship Rose Algier for him. or swerved a hair's breadth from his purpose. and the people adopted his opinion. James II. Jay had arranged with Great Britain. Even our own revered Washington was mobbed in the streets because he would not pander to the clamor of the people and reject the treaty which Mr.

and he was afterward made Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Copernicus the son of a Polish baker. Defoe." Soult served fourteen years before he was made a sergeant. but he returned to England with $1. Humphry Davy. even.
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them. when following his trade of a mason. Andrew Johnson was a tailor. the "bravest of the brave. sunk fifty years before. Bunyan a tinker. Joseph Hunter was a carpenter in youth. One day an Indian diver went down for a curious sea plant and saw several cannon lying on the bottom." rose from the ranks. They proved to belong to the wreck for which he was looking. Dante and Descartes were soldiers. The King made him High Sheriff of New England. Thomas Carlyle and Hugh Miller masons.500. He had nothing but dim traditions to guide him. When made Foreign Minister of France he knew very little of geography. and his teacher. Marshal Ney. Ben Jonson.CHAPTER IV. Cardinal Wolsey. The boy Herschel played the oboe for his meals. Robert Burns a plowman. was an apprentice to an apothecary. and Kirke White were butchers' sons. Kepler was a waiter boy in a German hotel. His first speech in Parliament was
. worked on Lincoln's Inn in London with trowel in hand and a book in his pocket. Faraday was the son of a blacksmith. His great industry gained for him the name of "The Indefatigable. Keats a druggist. Richard Cobden was a boy in a London warehouse.000.

A constant struggle. William Graham. P. after years of toil. When. a ceaseless battle to bring success from inhospitable surroundings. Gideon Lee. of repeated failure. Edison demonstrated in Menlo Park that the electric light had at last been developed into a commercial success. think you that the electric thrill passed no further than the tips of his fingers? When Thomas A. or indeed their chief reward.CHAPTER IV. is the price of all great achievements. Cyrus W. and soon became one of the greatest orators of his day. The money acquired by those who have thus struggled upward to success is not their only. and Daniel Sheffey. of opposition. Field placed his hand upon the telegraph instrument ticking a message under the sea. The man who has not fought his way up to his own loaf. Henry Wilson. and does not bear the scar of desperate conflict. Seven shoemakers sat in Congress during the first century of our government: Roger Sherman. John Halley. of ridicule. but he was not afraid of defeat. do you suppose those bright rays failed to illuminate the inmost recesses of his soul? Edward Everett said: "There are occasions in life in which a great mind lives years of enjoyment in a single
. does not know the highest meaning of success. Baldwin.
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a complete failure. H.

It was such another moment as that when the immortal printers of Mentz and Strasburg received the first copy of the Bible into their hands. What has preserved it through each disfavor of birth and circumstances--why are its leaves as green and fair as those of the vine behind you. Choked up and walled round by crags and buildings. stem and branch. from which it sprung. through the gray dawn of the 12th of October. like that when the law of gravitation first revealed itself to the intellect of Newton.--how.
. and beheld the planet Venus crescent like the moon. which. by nature and man. in the clefts of the rock. the work of their divine art. Some wind scattered the germ. beheld the shores of San Salvador. first raising the newly constructed telescope to the heavens. "Look how it grows up." says Zanoni to Viola in Bulwer's novel.CHAPTER IV. with all its arms. like that when Columbus. towards the clear skies at last. I can fancy the emotion of Galileo when. he saw fulfilled the grand prophecy of Copernicus. that he held the lightning in his grasp. crooked and distorted. its life has been one struggle for the light. You see how it has writhed and twisted. meeting the barrier in one spot. can embrace the open sunshine? My child. by the stiffening fibres of the hemp cord of his kite.
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moment. 1492. like that when Franklin saw. it has labored and worked. like that when Leverrier received back from Berlin the tidings that the predicted planet was found." "Observe yon tree in your neighbor's garden.

to turn to the sun. through every adverse accident of sorrow. The forces and the natures of all winds.
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because of the very instinct that impelled the struggle. So with a gallant heart.CHAPTER IV. and tempests. and how to stop them. this it is that gives knowledge to the strong and happiness to the weak. What strands. And deck knocks heaven. must know His tides. and of fate. to strive for the heaven. what shelves." "Each petty hand Can steer a ship becalmed."
. what in fair weathers. What she will bear in foul.--because the labor for the light won to the light at length. how to shift his sails. Gusts. then to manage her Becomes the name and office of a pilot. but he that will Govern her and carry her to her ends. when her keel plows hell. her leaks. what rocks to threaten her. his currents. storms. What her springs are.

--EMERSON. adds brains.--HORACE BUSHMILL. The more difficulties one has to encounter.
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CHAPTER V. Nature. within and without.--HOLMES.CHAPTER V.
. But crushed or trodden to the ground. As odors crushed are sweeter still. As night to stars. Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties. ROGERS. woe lustre gives to man. Aromatic plants bestow No spicy fragrance while they grow. the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be.
USES OF OBSTACLES. GOLDSMITH. There is no possible success without some opposition as a fulcrum: force is always aggressive and crowds something. Diffuse their balmy sweets around.--YOUNG. when she adds difficulties. The good are better made by ill.--SPURGEON.

"have we said that. privation trains and strengthens it. sewing and economizing and growing narrower every year." "Many and many a time since.--HORACE. while it was yet time. BURNS.--JOHN NEAL.--HAZLITT. the wind.CHAPTER V. but for that loss of money." said Harriet Martineau. There's wit there ye'll get there. Though losses and crosses be lessons right severe. referring to her father's failure in business. "Adversity is the prosperity of the great.--SIRACH. ye'll find no other where. on our
.
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Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant. not with. by being thrown. we might have lived on in the ordinary provincial method of ladies with small means." No man ever worked his way in a dead calm. "Kites rise against. whereas. For gold is tried in the fire and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity. Possession pampers the mind.

and independence.
. reputation. in short. Dante. Spare not the chisel." Two of the three greatest epic poets of the world were blind. However dear the bands." said George Macdonald of Milton. seen the world abundantly. won friends. but concentrate it all in one direction. while the third. ****** "I do believe God wanted a grand poem of that man. I lift to Thee Encumbered heart and hands. set me free. was in his later years nearly.CHAPTER V. if not altogether. have truly lived instead of vegetating. "and so blinded him that he might be able to write it." ****** [Illustration: JOHN BUNYAN] "Sculptor of souls.
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own resources. abroad and at home. we have worked hard and usefully.--Homer and Milton. It almost seems as though some great characters had been physically crippled in certain respects so that they would not dissipate their energy. blind.

" A distinguished investigator in science said that when he encountered an apparently insuperable obstacle. by awakening powers which were sleeping.
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"I have been beaten. is always floundering in the mud. after making a complete failure of his first speech in the Chamber of Deputies. having nothing to keep him steady. "Returned with thanks" has made many an author. "I am making my first essay in arms. he usually found himself upon the brink of some discovery." said Thiers. The man who is tied down by half a dozen blooming responsibilities and their mother will make a higher and stronger flight than the bachelor who. "Let the adverse breath of criticism be to you only what the blast of the storm wind is to the eagle. Failure often leads a man to success by arousing his latent energy. by firing a dormant purpose.CHAPTER V. In the tribune. a defeat is as useful as a victory.--a force against him that lifts him higher. Men of mettle turn disappointments into helps as the oyster turns into pearl the sand which annoys it. but not cast down. as under fire. If you want to ascend in the world tie yourself to
. It is just so in life." A kite would not fly unless it had a string tying it down.

There is nothing that does a young lawyer so much good as to be half starved. No effort is too dear which helps us along the line of our proper career." Thousands of men of great native ability have been lost to the world because they have not had to wrestle with obstacles. "To make his way at the bar. "It was the severe preparation for the subsequent harvest. the eminent English lawyer. speaking of his early poverty and hard work. Soon he was regarded as the brightest ornament of the class.
." When Napoleon's companions made sport of him on account of his humble origin and poverty he devoted himself entirely to books. commanded their respect." said Pemberton Leigh.
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somebody. pecuniary independence as essential alike to virtue and happiness. and soon rising above them in scholarship." said an eminent jurist. and no sacrifice too great to avoid the misery of debt.CHAPTER V. "I learned to consider indefatigable labor as the indispensable condition of success. "a young man must live like a hermit and work like a horse. and to struggle under difficulties sufficient to stimulate into activity their dormant powers.

and comes to his grave without a wrinkle. with snow and frost. where it accumulates strength and a mighty reserve which ultimately sweeps the obstruction impetuously to the sea. and then to wrestle with storm and tempest.
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Poverty and obscurity of origin may impede our progress. Trials are rough teachers. a stronger muscle and stamina of body. "Do you wish to live without a trial?" asks a modern teacher. Difficulties are God's errands. And when we are sent upon them we should esteem it a proof of God's confidence. Poverty and obscurity are not insurmountable obstacles. They must go into deep water and buffet the waves. A man who goes through life prosperous. We should reach after the highest good. "Then you wish to die but half a man. but it is only like the obstruction of ice or debris in the river temporarily forcing the water into eddies. but they often act as a stimulus to the naturally indolent."
. to fight its way up to sunlight and air. the fibre of its timber will be all the tougher and stronger. Hardship is the native soil of manhood and self-reliance.CHAPTER V. Men do not learn to swim on a table. but rugged schoolmasters make rugged pupils. is not half a man. and develop a firmer fibre of mind. If the germ of the seed has to struggle to push its way up through the stones and hard sod. Without trial you cannot guess at your own strength.

We dread these thrusts and exposures as we do the surgeon's knife.
. Their biting sarcasm and scathing rebuke are often mirrors which reveal us to ourselves. An air of triumph is seen in every movement. They reach depths before untouched. These unkind stings and thrusts are spurs which urge us on to grander success and nobler endeavor. We are the victors of our opponents. for they are often our best friends in disguise. They tell us the truth when friends flatter. The man who has triumphed over difficulties bears the signs of victory in his face. Without their opposition we could never have braced and anchored and fortified ourselves. "make enemies.
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"If you wish to rise. They have developed in us the very power by which we overcome them. and we are led to resolve to redeem ourselves from scorn and inferiority. but are the better for them." said Talleyrand. Our trials." There is good philosophy in the injunction to love our enemies. our sorrows.CHAPTER V. enemies drag out to the light all our weaknesses without mercy. Friends cover our faults and rarely rebuke. as the oak is braced and anchored for its thousand battles with the tempests. and our griefs develop us in a similar way.

thwarted. as the torrid zone enervates races accustomed to a vigorous climate. seem to thrive best when most abused. it is defeat that turns gristle to muscle. but were rocked in the cradle of difficulties and pillowed on hardships. rebuffed. and so was Robert Hall. "The gods look on no grander sight than an honest man struggling with adversity. defeat is the threshold of their victory. Their good fortune takes the spring out of their energy. Strong characters. it is defeat that makes men invincible. in the opinion of those around them. Some people never come to themselves until baffled. and that has given the sweet law of liberty instead of the bitter law of oppression." "Then I must learn to sing better. crushed. like the palm-tree. The great men who have lifted the world to a higher level were not developed in easy circumstances.CHAPTER V.
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John Calvin. who made a theology for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Trials unlock their virtues. It is defeat that turns bone to flint. was tortured with disease for many years. when told that the very boys laughed at his singing. Men who have stood up bravely under great misfortune for years are often unable to bear prosperity. defeated." said Anaximander.
. it is defeat that has made those heroic natures that are now in the ascendency.

How many centuries of peace would have developed a Grant? Few knew Lincoln until the great weight of the war showed his character. warped too much to become an artist of high merit. The friction which retards a train upon the track." In the sunshine of wealth a man is. "Will he not make a great painter?" was asked in regard to an artist fresh from his Italian tour. The spark in the flint would sleep forever but for friction. A drenching shower of adversity would straighten his fibres out again. and make greatness possible. their edge from grinding. "Why not?" "Because he has an income of six thousand pounds a year. The best tools receive their temper from fire. robbing the
. Perhaps Phillips and Garrison would never have been known to history had it not been for slavery. never. Only its own dust is hard enough to make this most precious stone reveal its full beauty. and the greater the friction necessary to bring it out. the more brilliant the lustre.CHAPTER V.
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Difficulties call out great qualities." replied Northcote. the fire in man would never blaze but for antagonism. A century of peace would never have produced a Bismarck. "No. as a rule. The harder the diamond. He should have some great thwarting difficulty to struggle against. the noblest characters are developed in a similar way.

is the very secret of locomotion. "Friction is a very good thing. this constant hitch. this perpetual struggle to keep the head above water and the wolf from the door. and the train will not move an inch. with much jarring and jolting. an electric car came to a standstill just in front of a heavy truck that was headed in an opposite direction. then the truck lumbered on its way. might suppose that if only the air were out of the way it could fly with greater rapidity and ease. remove the friction. Yet if the air were
. that moment he often ceases to struggle and therefore ceases to grow. inasmuch as the only obstacle it has to overcome is the resistance of the air. this continual deficiency. "It is this scantiness of means. The philosopher Kant observes that a dove. Oil the track. Let every man have a few more dollars than he wants. and the track of his life is oiled with inherited wealth or other aids." remarked a passenger. that keeps society from falling to pieces.--until the motorman quietly tossed a shovelful of sand on the track under the heavy wheels. and anarchy would follow. The huge truck wheels were sliding uselessly round on the car tracks that were wet and slippery from rain.
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engine of a fourth of its power." Suddenly. The moment man is relieved of opposition or friction. All the urging of the teamster and the straining of the horses in vain.CHAPTER V.

The prison has roused the slumbering fire in many a noble mind. it would fall instantly to the ground unable to fly at all. The very element that offers the opposition to flying is at the same time the condition of any flight whatever. and cannot fail to leave us stronger for the struggle. Emergencies make giant men. Sir Walter Raleigh wrote "The History of the World" during his imprisonment of thirteen years. Luther translated the
." were written by prisoners. "Robinson Crusoe" was written in prison. Eliot's "Monarchia of Man. even though we miss the prize. or the loss of a fortune.CHAPTER V. emergencies often call out powers and virtues before unknown and suspected. Rough seas and storms make sailors. and the bird should try to fly in a vacuum. idle." and Penn's "No Cross. No Crown. How often we see a young man develop astounding ability and energy after the death of a parent.
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withdrawn. But for our Civil War the names of its grand heroes would not be written among the greatest of our time. From an aimless. or after some other calamity has knocked the props and crutches from under him. The "Pilgrim's Progress" appeared in Bedford Jail. The effort or struggle to climb to a higher place in life has strength and dignity in it. The "Life and Times" of Baxter. and useless brain.

as if in anticipation of fierce conflict with the elements.
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Bible while confined in the Castle of Wartburg. as nearly alike as possible. and the other in the dense forest. The oak standing alone is exposed to every storm. clutching the rocks and piercing deep into the earth. Sometimes its upward growth seems checked for years.CHAPTER V. as nearly alike as possible. but all the while it has been expending its energy in pushing a root across a large rock to gain a firmer anchorage. it feels no need of spreading its roots far and wide for support. but genius will not burn. plant one on a hill by itself. Every rootlet lends itself to steady the growing giant. Shielded by its neighbors. Place one in the country away from the hothouse culture and
. Then it shoots proudly aloft again. His works were burned in public after his death. slender sapling. Take two boys. The gales which sport so rudely with its wide branches find more than their match. For twenty years Dante worked in exile. Take two acorns from the same tree. and even under sentence of death. prepared to defy the hurricane. The acorn planted in the deep forest shoots up a weak. and only serve still further to toughen every minutest fibre from pith to bark. and watch them grow. Its roots reach out in every direction.

The plain. and family influence. gratify every wish. the Sunday-school.CHAPTER V. and a few books. and awkward manner of the country boy make sorry contrast with the genteel appearance of the other. threadbare clothes. If he falls. with only the district school. the harder the obstacle he meets the higher he rebounds. and. Put the other boy in a Vanderbilt family. he will thrive. Place him under the tutelage of great masters and send him to Harvard. tawny face. Like a rubber ball. regrets that he has "no chance in life. if he has the right kind of material in him. They meet again as men. Remove wealth and props of every kind. position. Give him thousands a year for spending money.
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refinements of the city. but how changed! It is as easy to distinguish the sturdy. The city lad is ashamed of his country brother. Every obstacle overcome lends him strength for the next conflict. he rises with more determination than before. hard hands. Obstacles and opposition are but apparatus of the gymnasium in which the fibres of his manhood are developed. He thinks that it is a cruel Providence that places such a wide gulf between them. and let him travel extensively. self-made man from the one who has been propped up all his life by wealth. as it is for the shipbuilder to tell the
." and envies the city youth. Give him French and German nurses. The poor boy bemoans his hard lot. He compels respect and recognition from those who have ridiculed his poverty. The two meet.

you blockhead. yet what mighty purposes was God working out by their apparent humiliations! Two highwaymen chancing once to pass a gibbet. Milton. Through the pit and the dungeon Joseph came to a throne. "gibbets are the making of us. Paul in his Roman cell. amid the incipient earthquake throes of revolution. if there were no gibbets. If you think there is no difference. When God wants to educate a man. We are not conscious of the mighty cravings of our half divine humanity. for. Tyndale dying in his prison at Amsterdam. he does not send him to school to the Graces. teaching two little boys in Aldgate Street. alone. David Livingstone.CHAPTER V. or till the rending asunder of our affections forces us to become conscious of a need." replied the other. it is the difficulties that scare
. but to the Necessities. or pursuit. trade." Just so with every art. place each plank in the bottom of a ship.--what failures they might all to themselves have seemed to be. and test them in a hurricane at sea. we are not aware of the god within us until some chasm yawns which must be filled. worn to a shadow. every one would be a highwayman. dying in a negro hut in Central Africa.
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difference between the plank from the rugged mountain oak and one from the sapling of the forest. John Huss led to the stake at Constance. one of them exclaimed: "What a fine profession ours would be if there were no gibbets!" "Tut.

" "Stick your claws into me. not hindrances.CHAPTER V. they are not what they seem. "Don't tell me what you like but what you don't like. "Young men need to be taught not to expect a perfectly smooth and easy way to the objects of their endeavor or ambition.
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and keep out unworthy competitors. there would be no success. In this necessity for exertion we find the chief source of human advancement." says Dr. and may prove to be helps. "Success grows out of struggles to overcome difficulties." John Hunter said that the art of surgery would never advance until professional men had the courage to publish their failures as well as their successes.--the advancement of individuals as of nations."
. "Seldom does one reach a position with which he has reason to be satisfied without encountering difficulties and what might seem discouragements. It has led to most of the mechanical inventions and improvements of the age." says Smiles. Peabody. But if they are properly met. There is no more helpful and profiting exercise than surmounting obstacles." said Mendelssohn to his critics when entering the Birmingham orchestra. "If there were no difficulties.

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It is said that but for the disappointments of Dante." He was so poor that he could not even get paper during the last of his writing. everything. but the rich man replied: "Heaven forbid that his necessities should be relieved. If I were single. I would court her. I would maltreat her. and more) would have had no "Divina Commedia" to hear! It was in the Madrid jail that Cervantes wrote "Don Quixote. and the ten dumb centuries continued voiceless." said Beethoven of Rossini. "if he had only been well flogged when a boy. it is his poverty that makes the world rich." "He has the stuff in him to make a good musician. but he is spoiled by the ease with which he
. A rich Spaniard was asked to help him." "A constant struggle. I would break her heart.CHAPTER V. and in six months she would be the greatest singer in Europe." said a great musician of a promising but passionless cantatrice. and had to write on scraps of leather. a ceaseless battle to bring success from inhospitable surroundings. "but she wants something. and in that something. I would marry her. Florence would have had another prosperous Lord Mayor." "She sings well. is the price of all great achievements. and the ten other listening centuries (for there will be ten of them.

disciplines the faculties. how is it that whilst subject to Papacy we prayed so often and with such fervor." said Eldon. Lord Thurlow withheld a promised commissionership of bankruptcy. and gives one independence of thought and force of character. whilst now we pray with the utmost coldness and very seldom?" When Lord Eldon was poor. "Doctor. and built up his best character.CHAPTER V. and lie concealed in the smooth seasons and the calms of life. and throw out into practice virtues that shun the day. promotes self-reliance. while engaged in sharp controversy with the Pope. Martin Luther did his greatest work."
. "What he meant was. matures the judgment. "that give mankind occasion to exert their hidden strength." Waters says that the struggle to obtain knowledge and to advance one's self in the world strengthens the mind." We do our best while fighting desperately to attain what the heart covets. "that he had learned I was by nature very indolent. "The gods in bounty work up storms about us." says Addison. Later in life his wife asks.
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composes. and it was only want that could make me very industrious. saying that it was a favor not to give it then.

Thrown upon their own resources. exasperation.
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The hothouse plant may tempt a pampered appetite or shed a languid odor. but the working world gets its food from fields of grain and orchards waving in the sun and free air. calamity. want. "how any man can afford. "I do not see." says Emerson. whose eyes have been sharpened by affliction. for the sake of his nerves and his nap. are instructors in eloquence and wisdom." Benjamin Franklin ran away. they early acquired the energy and skill to overcome difficulties. The rude and rough experience of the eaglet fits him to become
. The true scholar grudges every opportunity of action passed by as a loss of power. and in wind-tossed forests finds its timber for temples and for ships. It is pearls and rubies to his discourse. from fishes that struggle with currents of river or ocean. As soon as young eagles can fly the old birds tumble them out and tear the down and feathers from their nest. from cattle that wrestle on the plains. to spare any action in which he can partake. Drudgery. and George Law was turned out of doors. its choicest perfumes from flowers that bloom unheeded.CHAPTER V." Kossuth called himself "a tempest-tossed soul.

usually "turn out. crowded out." "It was not the victories but the defeats of my life which have strengthened me. Boys who are bound out.
." In one of the battles of the Crimea a cannon-ball struck inside the fort. crashing through a beautiful garden. To them hardship has been "like spring mornings. yet they have given the world its noblest songs. its wisest proverbs. kicked out. frosty but kindly." said the aged Sidenham Poyntz.CHAPTER V. But from the ugly chasm there burst forth a spring of water which ever afterward flowed a living fountain.
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the bold king of birds. fierce and expert in pursuing his prey. its sweetest music. perennial fountains of rich experience and new joys often spring. With them persecution seems to bring prosperity. They thrive where others would starve." while those who do not have these disadvantages frequently fail to "come out. They hold the purse-strings of many nations. Almost from the dawn of history. From the ugly gashes which misfortunes and sorrows make in our hearts. the cold of which will kill the vermin. oppression has been the lot of the Hebrews. but will let the plant live.

Many a man has never found himself until he has lost his all. Fierce winters are as necessary to it as long summers. the tempests. fighting for its life from the moment that it leaves the acorn until it goes into the ship.CHAPTER V. You must throw away the crutches of riches and stand upon your own feet. God may see a rough diamond in you which only the hard hits of poverty can polish. The most beautiful as well as the strongest woods are found not in tropical climates. Without this struggle it would have been character-less. The frost. the snows. wrestling with the storm. The rough ledge on the hillside complains
. hardships are the chisel and mallet which shape the strong life into beauty. stamina-less. where they have to fight the frosts and the winter's cold. nerve-less. The Creator may see something grand and mighty which even He cannot bring out as long as your wealth stands in the way. and what drill and what discipline are necessary to bring them out. but in the severe climates. It is its half-century's struggle with the elements for existence. and develop the long unused muscles of manhood. and its grain would have never been susceptible of high polish. Obstacles.
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Don't lament and grieve over lost wealth. Adversity stripped him only to discover him. are the rough teachers that bring the tiny acorn to the sturdy oak. God knows where the richest melodies of our lives are. that gives it value. the lightnings.

when disease had robbed them of all they held dear in life. and the sand-papering of a thousand annoyances. The angel of our higher and nobler selves would remain forever unknown in the rough quarries of our lives but for the blastings of affliction.CHAPTER V. the statue of manhood. the chiseling of obstacles. But look again: behold the magnificent statue. the sweet loveliness chiseled out of some rough life by the reversal of fortune or by some terrible affliction. until the blasts of misfortune have rent the ledge. telling its grand story of valor in the public square for centuries. the chiseling. and the polishing. Who has not observed the patience. How many business men have made their greatest strides toward manhood. Often we cannot see the angel in the quarry of our lives. to be hammered and squared by the quarryman. chiseled into grace and beauty.
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of the drill. have developed their greatest virtues. The statue would have slept in the marble forever but for the blasting. when the reverses of fortune have swept away everything they had in the world.
. the monument. of the blasting powder which disturbs its peace of centuries: it is not pleasant to be rent with powder. the calm endurance. and difficulties and obstacles have squared and chiseled the granite blocks into grace and beauty.

and compels us to consider it in all its relations. as he loves us better too. until then. and hope which he never dreamed he possessed before. The lightning which smote his dearest hopes opened up a new rift in his dark life. and rise in spite of a thousand adverse circumstances. utterly powerless to print upon the sands of time and upon the human soul the deep trace which he has left." Men who have the right kind of material in them will assert their personality." says Edmund Burke. he had never seen. This conflict with difficulty makes us acquainted with our object." says Castelar. a man unknown to history. It will not suffer us to be superficial. The grave buried his dearest hopes. a tender father. "Adversity is a severe instructor. "Savonarola would undoubtedly have been a good husband.CHAPTER V. Our antagonist is our helper. endurance. but uncovered possibilities in his nature of patience. but
. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Every obstacle seems only to add to their ability to get on. You cannot keep them down.
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Many a man has been ruined into salvation. and gave him glimpses of himself which. "Under different circumstances. "set over us by one who knows us better than we do ourselves.

It is said that there are ten thousand chances to one that genius. tinkers." The greatest men will ever be those who have risen from the ranks. and when her family finally rejected him. and partly on account of his person. and virtue shall issue from a farmhouse rather than from a palace. but he reached a professorship in the Royal Academy.
. and Grant above tanning. his life was set upon the possession of her. Thorwaldsen's parents were poor. they did with their might what their hands found to do. Bunyan above tinkering. By being first-class barbers.
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misfortune came to visit him. when in truth it was immortality. Lincoln above rail-splitting. and the grief that circled his brows with a crown of thorns was also that which wreathed them with the splendor of immortality. talent. and ennobled their work. His hopes were centred in the woman he loved.CHAPTER V. but. as Arkwright rose above mere barbering. They rose by being greater than their calling. to crush his heart. partly on account of his profession. Antonio Canova was the son of a day laborer. and to impart that marked melancholy which characterizes a soul in grief. Wilson above shoemaking. like hundreds of others. When but ten years old he showed the material he was made of by a beautiful drawing on a shingle. The youth Opie earned his bread by sawing wood. he believed that it was death that had come upon him.

like those of the ocean. and excite the invention. authors. people do not like to have unfortunate men for acquaintances. dejects cowards. awes the opulent. Beethoven was almost totally deaf and burdened with sorrow when he produced his greatest works. draws out the faculties of the wise and industrious. Don't run about and tell acquaintances that you have been unfortunate. Men have drawn from adversity the elements of greatness. tanners. go and see the poorest and sickest families within your knowledge. Neither do uninterrupted success and prosperity qualify men for usefulness and happiness. generals. The darker the setting. in bracing their minds to outward calamities. If you have the blues. Schiller wrote his best books in great bodily suffering. The martyrs of ancient times. skill. The storms of adversity.CHAPTER V. and makes the idle industrious. and fortitude of the voyager. A man upon whom continuous sunshine falls is like the earth in August: he becomes parched and dry and hard and close-grained. rail-splitters. they acquired the power which enabled them to become great inventors. rouse the faculties. Adversity exasperates fools. puts the modest to the necessity of trying their skill.
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shoemakers. acquired a loftiness of purpose and a moral heroism worth a lifetime of softness and security. statesmen. prudence. the brighter the diamond. He was not
.

he could even pray for greater trouble. "Do you know what God puts us on our backs for?" asked Dr." A German knight undertook to make an immense Aeolian harp by stretching wires from tower to tower of his castle." replied the visitor. any higher manhood." said Dr. Payson.
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free from pain for fifteen years. "for it seems to me that this is no time for mourning. I am glad to hear that. as he lay sick in bed." Bunyan said that. and then rich and grand music came from the wires. and a successful preacher. if it were lawful." said he. and sick. Milton wrote his leading productions when blind." said the friend. for the greater comfort's sake. Ordinary experiences do not seem to touch some lives--to bring out any poetry. when I was prosperous and well. When he finished the harp it was silent. smiling. At last a tempest arose and swept with fury over his castle. and really needed condolence. "best can do. The fact is I never had less need of condolence. "No. and yet everybody persists in offering it." "I am not come to condole but to rejoice with you. poor. "it is not often I am addressed in such a way. they flattered and congratulated me." "Well.CHAPTER V. "In order that we may look upward. whereas. "Who best can suffer. Payson.
. but when the breezes began to blow he heard faint strains like the murmuring of distant music.

and with a firm tread and fearless eye press steadily onward. and for myself. Place high thy standard. and cling to hope. "Grant's failure as a subaltern made him commander-in-chief.CHAPTER V." said Albion Tourgée. True salamanders live best in the furnace of persecution. Many of our best poets
.
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Not until the breath of the plague had blasted a hundred thousand lives. Not ease. in exterminating ignorance and error. my failure to accomplish what I set out to do led me to what I never had aspired to. and planting high on an everlasting foundation the banner of intelligence and right. phoenix-like. a grand and mighty city. makes men. not facility." The appeal for volunteers in the great battle of life. but difficulty. if the truth were known. Toilsome culture is the price of great success. wicked London. "Every man who makes a fortune has been more than once a bankrupt. and the great fire had licked up cheap. is directed to you. from her ashes and ruin. but effort. and the slow growth of a great character is one of its special necessities. Burst the trammels that impede your progress. shabby. did she arise.

"Hours of Idleness. colleges. "Short roads" and "abridged methods" are characteristic of the century. Our problems are all worked out in "explanations" and "keys. and undertakes to do the world's
. Ingenious methods are used everywhere to get the drudgery out of the college course. newspapers. and preachers our religion. Many an orator like "stuttering Jack Curran. Our thinking is done for us. universities. has rushed to man's relief with her wondrous forces. as if conscious of delayed blessings. teachers." Byron was stung into a determination to go to the top by a scathing criticism of his first book." Our boys are too often tutored through college with very little study." In a few years he stood by the side of such men as Scott. books. "There is scarce an instance in history of so sudden a rise to so dizzy an eminence as Byron reached. Macaulay said. We have institutes.CHAPTER V. magazines. Nature. libraries. Self-help and self-reliance are getting old fashioned. Southey. Newspapers give us our politics. "Helps" and "aids" are advertised everywhere. and Campbell." published when he was but nineteen years of age.
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"Are cradled into poetry by wrong." or "Orator Mum. has been spurred into eloquence by ridicule and abuse." as he was once called. And learn in suffering what they teach in song. and died at thirty-seven. that age so fatal to genius. This is the crutch age.

The sculptor will chip off all unnecessary material to set free the angel. But do not misinterpret her edict. it is the struggle to obtain. so Nature cares only for the man or woman shut up in the human being. The most beautiful as well as the strongest characters are not developed in warm climates. Labor found the world a wilderness and has made it a garden. It is no chance that returns to the Hindoo ryot a penny and to the American laborer a dollar for his daily toil. She emancipates the muscles only to employ the brain and heart. It is rugged necessity. and calls the race out of barbarism. As the sculptor thinks only of the angel imprisoned in the marble block. that makes Mexico with its mineral wealth poor. She emancipates from the lower only to call to the higher. where man finds his bread ready made on trees. The sculptor cares nothing for the block as such. it is poverty the priceless spur. that develops the stamina of manhood. and New England with its granite and ice rich. Nature will chip
. and where exertion is a great effort.CHAPTER V. but rather in a trying climate and on a stubborn soil. Nature has little regard for the mere lump of breathing clay. She does not bid the world go and play while she does the work.
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drudgery and emancipate him from Eden's curse.

humble our pride. Nature resorts to a thousand expedients to
. It is exhaled from every flower. Every other idea or figure on the canvas is subordinate to it. fame is nothing. Oh.
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and pound us remorselessly to bring out our possibilities. manhood is everything. In every great painting of the masters there is one idea or figure which stands out boldly beyond everything else. and placed the universe at his disposal. but pointing to the central idea. Everything must give way to that. humiliate our ambition. and every created thing but an object-lesson from the unseen universe. position is nothing. finds its true expression there. it twinkles in every star. So in the vast universe of God. Not ease. will discipline us in a thousand ways. she thunders it in every creation. let us down from the ladder of fame. She has rifled the centuries for his development. Wealth is nothing. not pleasure. or to make his existence possible.CHAPTER V. Nature writes this thought upon every leaf. She will strip us of wealth. if she can develop a little character. Nature is after. every object of creation is but a guideboard with an index-finger pointing to the central figure of the created universe--Man. not happiness. The world is but his kindergarten. but a man. what price will Nature not pay for a man! Ages and aeons were nothing for her to spend in preparing for his coming.

" says a philosopher. And then. too. in larger interests than ours. "refuses to be so adjusted as to eliminate from it all strife and conflict and pain. It gets up very early and stays up very late. but swung by the millions of toilers who labor with their cries and groans and tears. There are a thousand tasks that.--these things we have not yet gotten rid of. whether it be for God or man. the piercing scream of defeat. and fills life with cries and blows.CHAPTER V. exacts its bitter toll. The world refuses to walk upon tiptoe. She never allows him once to lose sight of the fact that it is the struggle to attain that develops the man. whether we want them or no. our temple-building. must be done. the even fiercer exultation when we have beaten. so that we may be able to sleep. To do this she must induce him to fight his way up to his own loaf. these hammers and axes are not wielded without strain or pang. nor in
. The moment we put our hand upon that which looks so attractive at a distance. Nature robs it of its charm by holding up before us another prize still more attractive.
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develop a perfect type of her grandest creation. the fiercer animosities when we are beaten. and which we struggled so hard to reach. The thousand rivalries of our daily business. and all the while there is the conflict of myriads of hammers and saws and axes with the stubborn material that in no other way can be made to serve its use and do its work for man. "Life. Nay. the crashing blows of disaster.

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this life ever will. lessons.CHAPTER V. Daily his own heart he eats. is the true hero. HEMANS. Chambers of the great are jails." "So many great Illustrious spirits have conversed with woe. "If what shone afar so grand Turns to ashes in the hand. Why should we wish to get rid of them? We are here. Must not earth be rent Before her gems are found? MRS. The constantly cheerful man."
. who takes them just for what they are. as are enough To consecrate distress. There is a strength Deep bedded in our hearts of which we reck But little. the virtue lies In the struggle. and make ambition Even wish the frown beyond the smile of fortune. to be hewed and hammered and planed in God's quarry and on God's anvil for a nobler life to come. who survives his blighted hopes and disappointments. and perhaps blessings in disguise. till the shafts of heaven have pierced Its fragile dwelling. my brother. And head-winds right for royal sails." Only the muscle that is used is developed. not the prize. On again." "The hero is not fed on sweets. Have in her school been taught.

that bids not sit nor stand but go. BROWNING.
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Then welcome each rebuff. That turns earth's smoothness rough.
. Each sting.CHAPTER V.

" "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.CHAPTER VI.
.
ONE UNWAVERING AIM. BUXTON. and then stick to it if he would be successful. and to possess the aptitude and perseverance to attain it." Let every one ascertain his special business and calling.--FRANKLIN.--BULWER.--GOETHE. how to use the bow-.
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CHAPTER VI.Then draw it to the head and let it go. "He who follows two hares is sure to catch neither. Concentration alone conquers." Every man who observes vigilantly and resolves steadfastly grows unconsciously into genius. The important thing in life is to have a great aim. HENRY VAN DYKE.--C. "Digression is as dangerous as stagnation in the career of a young man in business. Life is an arrow--therefore you must know What mark to aim at.

had burned it indelibly into the heart of every Frenchman. "she requires the whole man. terror and dismay might seize upon the crew at the mysterious variations of the compass. pushed due west and nightly added to his record the above words. even at his own house. "and you will find the Emperor. "Cut an inch deeper." said a member of the Old Guard to the surgeon probing his wound. according to Disraeli." were the simple but grand words which Columbus wrote in his journal day after day." During his labors at the Sistine Chapel. "That day we sailed westward. In the fair city on the Seine the mystic "N" confronts you everywhere." replied the artist."--meaning his heart. "Art is a jealous mistress. By the marvelous power of concentrated purpose Napoleon had left his name on the very stones of the capital.
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Genius is intensity. France to-day has not shaken off the spell of that name.--BALZAC. but Columbus.CHAPTER VI. Hope might rise and fall. unappalled. which was our course. and had left it written in living letters all over Europe. "Why do you lead such a solitary life?" asked a friend of Michael Angelo.
. he refused to meet any one.

and like William Pitt. the millions would rule in anarchy.
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Oh. concentrating the rays of the sun upon a single spot. unless some master-mind could be found which was a match for events. nor building air-castles. forward. as well as upon an empire. till he made a breach. he burned a hole wherever he went. His iron will grasped the situation. but they did not know the might of the unwavering aim by which he was changing the destinies of Europe. He saw that what was called the "balance of power" was only an idle dream. he did not loiter around balancing the probabilities of failure or success. He always hit the bull's-eye. alas! Napoleon was himself defeated by violation of his own tactics. charge upon charge. he would mass his men and hurl them like an avalanche upon the critical point. the power of a great purpose to work miracles! It has changed the face of the world. upward and onward. But. He was like a great burning-glass. After finding the weak place in the enemy's ranks.--the constantly repeated
.CHAPTER VI. Napoleon knew that there were plenty of great men in France. The secret of his power lay in his ability to concentrate his forces upon a single point. His great success in war was due largely to his definiteness of aim. or dally with his purpose. What a lesson of the power of concentration there is in this man's life! He was able to focus all his faculties upon the smallest detail. that. crowding volley upon volley. There was no turning to the right nor to the left. but one look and purpose. straight to his goal. no dreaming away time.

Even Gladstone. even his recreation. even though it be the humblest. and yet it is so broad. New York has but one ocean port. The intensest energy characterizes everything he undertakes. but they are so shallow and narrow that the shipping of the entire state amounts to but little. Every other inclination which tempts him from his aim must be suppressed.
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crushing force of heavy battalions upon one point. what can we common mortals hope to accomplish by "scatteration?"
. To succeed to-day a man must concentrate all the faculties of his mind upon one unwavering aim. and have a tenacity of purpose which means death or victory. and grand. with his ponderous yet active brain. She sends her vessels into every port of the world. deep. he may grow rich and famous upon one trade thoroughly mastered. If such concentration of energy is necessary for the success of a Gladstone. he throws his entire strength upon whatever he does. says he cannot do two things at once. On the other hand.CHAPTER VI. while the ships of her neighbor are restricted to local voyages. New Jersey has many ports. A man may starve on a dozen half-learned trades or occupations. that it leads America in its enormous shipping trade.

and spent most of that winter wrapped in a big gray comforter. sent twenty-five cents for a sure receipt to prevent a shotgun from scattering. Holmes. A New York sportsman. and received the following.CHAPTER VI. an Irving. Who is the favorite actor? It is a Jefferson. O. Dr. when an Andover student.
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All great men have been noted for their power of concentration which makes them oblivious of everything outside their aim. while the bullets were whistling across his garden. who devotes a lifetime to a "Rip Van Winkle. He shut himself up in one room. locking his clothes up. Victor Hugo wrote his "Notre Dame" during the revolution of 1830. Genius is intensity. who plays one character until he can play it better than any other man living. in answer to an advertisement. lest they should tempt him to go out into the street. Abraham Lincoln possessed such power of concentration that he could repeat quite correctly a sermon to which he had listened in his boyhood." a Booth. pouring his very life into his work. and not the shallow players who
." It is the men who do one thing in this world who come to the front. a Kean. "Dear Sir: To keep a gun from scattering put in but a single shot. riveted his eyes on the book he was studying as though he were reading a will that made him heir to a million. W.

The weakest living creature." These are the men who have written their names prominently in the history of the world. continually falling. It is a Newton. It is a Grant. wears a passage through the hardest rock. by concentrating his powers upon one thing. a Stephenson. writing thirteen hours a day on his "History of England. It is Adam Smith. It is an Edison." It is a Hume.
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impersonate all parts. may fail to accomplish anything. a Howe. by dispersing his over many. as Carlyle points out. can accomplish something. rushes over it with hideous uproar and leaves no trace behind." It is Gibbon. It is a Bancroft.
. the strongest. who proposes to "fight it out on this line if it takes all summer. spending thirty-six years on his dictionary. giving twenty years to his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. crossing the ocean fifty times to lay a cable. spending ten years on the "Wealth of Nations. a Bell." It is a Field. writing his "Chronology of Ancient Nations" sixteen times. working twenty-six years on his "History of the United States. The hasty tempest. It is the man who never steps outside of his specialty or dissipates his individuality." It is a Webster. A one-talent man who decides upon a definite object accomplishes more than the ten-talent man who scatters his energies and never knows exactly what he will do.CHAPTER VI. a Morse. while the world ridicules. Drop after drop. a Watt.

Concentration is the keynote of the century. it attracts all that is kindred along the stream of life. but they are powerless to collect them. taken separately.
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A great purpose is cumulative. though a paradise tempt him. are usually
. who turns neither to the right nor to the left. A Yankee can splice a rope in many different ways. the man of single and intense purpose. the sharp-edged man. a Dante can sustain arguments against fourteen disputants in the University of Paris. and conquer in them all. Versatile men. who cuts his way through obstacles and forges to the front. and. the man of one idea. an English sailor only knows one way.CHAPTER VI. The time has gone forever when a Bacon can span universal knowledge. although these rays focused by a burning-glass would melt solid granite. or even change a diamond into vapor. There are plenty of men who have ability enough. Scientists estimate that there is energy enough in less than fifty acres of sunshine to run all the machinery in the world. are all right. like a great magnet. but that is the best one. It is the one-sided man. to bring them all to bear upon a single spot. The day when a man can successfully drive a dozen callings abreast is a thing of the past. the rays of their faculties. But the sun might blaze out upon the earth forever without setting anything on fire. absorbing all the knowledge of the times. or when. if it could be concentrated. universal geniuses.

in the Royal Cemetery at Vienna. heart-broken king. Chiseled upon the tomb of a disappointed. with the best of intentions. Joseph II. A thimbleful of powder behind a ball in a rifle will do more execution than a carload
. and this makes all the difference between success and failure. This fatal defect in his character kept him balancing between conflicting motives. is this epitaph: "Here lies a monarch who. of Austria.
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weak. never carried out a single plan. and his whole life was almost thrown away. One talent utilized in a single direction will do infinitely more than ten talents scattered. He vacillated for weeks trying to determine whether to use "usefulness" or "utility" in a composition. But there was no purpose in his life. because they have no power to concentrate their talents upon one point. but his zeal all evaporated before he could decide what to do. Many watched his career with much interest. expecting that he would dazzle the world.CHAPTER VI. a traveler tells us. He had intermittent attacks of enthusiasm for doing great things. He excited in every one who knew him the greatest expectations. He lacked power to choose one object and persevere with a single aim." Sir James Mackintosh was a man of remarkable ability. sacrificing every interfering inclination.

which otherwise. no matter how good it might be. and communicates an almost superhuman audacity to his will. in practical life. Whipple. "springing not from self-conceit. far outstrips the class leader or senior wrangler. "A sublime self-confidence. cutting his way through difficulties. ******
." says E. never concentrates his powers. but from an intense identification of the man with his object. The poorest scholar in school or college often. while the other. and surmounting obstacles which dishearten others. depending upon his general ability and brilliant prospects. P. lifts him altogether above the fear of danger and death. as though they were stepping-stones.
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of powder unconfined. would be powerless.CHAPTER VI. simply because what little ability he has he employs for a definite object. The rifle-barrel is the purpose that gives direct aim to the powder." ****** [Illustration: RICHARD ARKWRIGHT] What a sublime spectacle is that of a man going straight to his goal.

No man can make his mark on this age of specialties who is not a man of one idea. when an obscure schoolmaster. if I ever wish to make a breach. must play all his guns on one point. The world is full of unsuccessful men who spend their lives letting empty buckets down into empty wells. a faltering purpose.CHAPTER VI. and subsequently he was at the head of one of the largest scientific institutes of this country. one supreme aim. often laughs at me.
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It is fashionable to ridicule the man of one idea. who would make a breach in the compact conservatism of our civilization.
. has no place in the nineteenth century. This man was the late Professor Henry. aims to excel in many things. "Mr. Washington. He talks about everything. I must play my guns continually upon one point. but the men who have changed the front of the world have been men of a single aim. A wavering aim. The man who would make himself felt on this bustling planet." said a young American chemist. A." This great chemist. "Mental shiftlessness" is the cause of many a failure. but I have learned that. Not many years later he was performing experiments in electro-magnetism before English earls. "because I have but one idea. one master passion. used to study by the light of a pine knot in a log cabin. of the Smithsonian Institution.

Improve it as we may. He spread himself over the whole field of knowledge and elegant culture. says Goethe. in the end. Men with monopolizing ambitions rarely live in history.CHAPTER VI. even with his magnificent powers. painfully lament the loss of time and strength devoted to such botching. Hartley Coleridge was splendidly endowed with talent. when the merit of the matter has become apparent to us.
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Douglas Jerrold once knew a man who was familiar with twenty-four languages but could not express a thought in one of them. and his life was a failure. but there was one fatal lack in his character--he had no definite purpose. disappointed the expectations of his friends." It is the single aim that wins. like Sir James Mackintosh. An old proverb says: "The master of one trade will support a wife and seven children. we shall always. They do not focus their powers long enough to burn their names indelibly into the roll of honor. Unstable as
. We should guard against a talent which we cannot hope to practice in perfection. Voltaire called the Frenchman La Harpe an oven which was always heating. but which never cooked anything. Edward Everett. and the master of seven will not support himself. but the mention of the name of Everett does not call up any one great achievement as does that of names like Garrison and Phillips.

He never stopped until he had projected his mind into theirs. and then fight it out with the judge on the law questions as best you can. he remained a man of promise merely to the end of his life." The man who succeeds has a programme. think his thoughts. like Bismarck or Grant. says: "Coleridge has two left hands. like Mackintosh. until they see with his eyes. He fixes his course and adheres to it. feel his sensations.
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water." He was so morbidly shy from living alone in his dreamland that he could not open a letter without trembling. until he has burned his arguments into their souls. "Carry the jury at all hazards. "move heaven and earth to carry the jury. He lays his plans and executes
. his convincing logic. going back over the whole line again and again. then on another. until he has hypnotized them with his purpose. and permeated their lives with his individuality. Southey." he used to say to young lawyers. There was no escape from his concentration of purpose. he could not excel. his persuasive rhetoric. He would often rally from his purposeless life. concentrating all his attention first on one juryman. and resolve to redeem himself from the oblivion he saw staring him in the face. but. Look at Rufus Choate.CHAPTER VI. The world always makes way for the man with a purpose in him. his uncle.

not for geniuses. He is not pushed this way and that every time a difficulty is thrown in his path.
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them. it will rack itself to pieces.CHAPTER VI. not for educated men merely. learning part of each. After a young man has spent five or six years in a dry goods store. like machinery without a balance-wheel. but all of none. The mind must be focused on a definite end. thereby throwing away five years of valuable experience which will be of very little use to him in the grocery business. and that the years devoted to learning his trade or occupation are the most valuable. or. while the use of faculties without an aim or end only weakens them. Constant and steady use of the faculties under a central purpose gives strength and power. He goes straight to his goal. Half-learned trades. Stick to your aim. forgetting that experience is worth more to him than money. will never give him a good
. no matter if a man has twenty. but for men who are trained to do one thing as well as it can be done. not for talented men. Napoleon could go through the drill of his soldiers better than any one of his men. not for jacks-of-all-trades. This age of concentration calls. The constant changing of one's occupation is fatal to all success. and so he spends a large part of his life drifting around from one kind of employment to another. he concludes that he would rather sell groceries. if he can't get over it he goes through it.

the months and perhaps years of waiting for patients. gives a feeling of strength. Scientists tell us that there is nothing in nature so ugly and disagreeable but intense light will make it beautiful. the endless names of drugs and technical terms. In fact. seeing a physician riding about town in his carriage. the man who has found his place and become master in it could scarcely be induced.
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living. for instance. The consciousness of thorough knowledge. even though he be a farmer. A young man in business. much less a competency.CHAPTER VI. of superiority. How easy to see the thorns in one's own profession or vocation. or a
. How many young men fail to reach the point of efficiency in one line of work before they get discouraged and venture into something else. The more completely we master a vocation the more thoroughly we enjoy it. the dry detail of anatomy. while wealth is absolutely out of the question. The complete mastery of one profession will render even the driest details interesting. visiting his patients. He does not know of the years of dry. which takes the drudgery out of an occupation. and wonders that he himself should have embarked in an occupation so full of disagreeable drudgery and hardships. tedious study which the physician has consumed. ideal life. and only the roses in that of another. the habit of doing everything to a finish. imagines that a doctor must have an easy.

all the knowledge and skill.CHAPTER VI. laying foundations. while the young man who half learned several trades. forming his acquaintances. influence. But he has been storing up a vast reserve of knowledge of detail. just this side of success. The credit he established as a clerk. and in establishing his credit. the point of productiveness. he did not press on to the point at which his acquisition would have been profitable. and credit thus gained come to his aid. There is a sense of great power in a vocation after a man has reached the point of efficiency in it. or grocer.
. character. and integrity. Up to this point of efficiency.
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carpenter. he finds equal to a large capital when he starts out for himself and takes the highway to fortune. the integrity. to get into your place and master it. the confidence. and got discouraged and stopped just short of the point of efficiency. and he soon finds that in what seemed almost thrown away lies the secret of his prosperity. the time seems to have been almost thrown away. the friendships formed. trustworthiness. the point where his skill begins to tell and bring in returns. gaining his reputation for truthfulness. to exchange places with a governor or congressman. To be successful is to find your sphere and fill it. When he reaches this point of efficiency. is a failure because he didn't go far enough. while he is learning his trade.

seems to be peculiar to American life. we see on every hand hundreds of young men and women flitting about from occupation to occupation. trade to trade. The
. Working without a plan is as foolish as going to sea without a compass. this disposition to shift about from one occupation to another. This fickleness. it never reaches any port unless by accident. when a young man meets a friend whom he has not seen for some time. Some people think that if they "keep everlastingly at it" they will succeed. but this is not so. its cargo may not be suited to the people. "What are you doing now?" showing the improbability or uncertainty that he is doing to-day what he was doing when they last met. as if they could run as well on another track as on the one they have left. that every man builds his own road upon which another's engine cannot run either with speed or safety. and if it does find a haven.CHAPTER VI." may keep on a full head of steam. so much so that. but it never arrives anywhere. driving about all the time. the climate. regardless of the fact that no two careers have the same gauge. or conditions among which it has accidentally drifted. A ship which has broken its rudder in mid-ocean may "keep everlastingly at it.--just as though they could go from one thing to another by turning a switch. the commonest question to ask is.
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In spite of the fact that nearly all very successful men have made a life work of one thing. in one thing to-day and another to-morrow.

but he must keep his course in the very teeth of the wind and the tempest. If a traveler loses his way and has neither compass nor chart. The Cunarders do not stop for fogs or storms. and even when enveloped in the fogs of disappointment and mists of opposition. they plow straight through the rough seas with only one thing in view.
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ship must be directed to a definite port. So there are many men whose purposes are so well known. or what opposition they may meet. for which its cargo is adapted. On the prairies of South America there grows a flower that always inclines in the same direction. no matter what obstacles they encounter. that the ship destined for Boston will not turn up at Fort Sumter or at Sandy Hook. and it must aim steadily for that port through sunshine and storm. for no matter how the rains descend or the winds blow. their destined port. when the currents and winds serve. by turning to this flower he will find a guide on which he can implicitly rely. So a man who would succeed must not drift about rudderless on the ocean of life. and where there is a demand for it. He must not only steer straight toward his destined port when the ocean is smooth. and no matter what the weather is. you can tell almost to a certainty
. that no matter what difficulties they may encounter. its leaves point to the north. too. It is practically certain. whose aims are so constant.CHAPTER VI. their arrival in port can be predicted to within a few hours. through tempest and fog.

" "busy idlers. which merely drifts into an accidental harbor. What we do without a purpose begrudgingly. and no work is well done nor healthily done which is not
. Discontent. they will not lose their compass or rudder. his life will not be purposeless. scatters doubts to the winds. but they will always head for the port and will steer straight towards the harbor. the needle of his compass will still point to the North Star of his hope. A healthy. Even a wreck that makes its port is a greater success than a full-rigged ship with all its sails flying. definite purpose is a remedy for a thousand ills which attend aimless lives.
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where they will come out. even though his sails may be swept away and his mast stripped to the deck." "purposeless busybodies. "Listless triflers. and clears up the gloomiest creeds.CHAPTER VI. with every mast and rope intact. with a purpose becomes a delight. though he may be wrecked by the storms of life. You know to a certainty that whatever else they may lose. To fix a wandering life and give it direction is not an easy task. flee before a definite purpose. They may be delayed by head winds and counter currents. Whatever may happen to a man of this stamp." are seen everywhere. An aim takes the drudgery out of life. Whatever comes. but a life which has no definite aim is sure to be frittered away in empty and purposeless dreams. dissatisfaction.

who digests accounts. What is more common than "unsuccessful geniuses. are worth little to the men who cannot use
. it must be concentrated on some steady. Men who can do something at everything.
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enthusiastically done. and sells fried potatoes. industry will not. a head full of knowledge. What good are powers. and a very little at anything. faculties. Mere energy is not enough. or becoming narrow. will-power will not." or failures with "commanding talents"? Indeed. are not wanted in this age." Jacks-at-all-trades are at war with the genius of the times. unless we can use them for a purpose? What good would a chest of tools do a carpenter unless he could use them? A college education. achieve something. It is just that added element which makes work immortal. Nothing can take the place of an all-absorbing purpose. But education is of no value. unless it can do something. explains the language of flowers. genius will not. a certain Monsieur Kenard announced himself as a "public scribe. talent is worthless. "unrewarded genius" has become a proverb. or dwarfed.CHAPTER VI. cramped. In Paris. Every town has unsuccessful educated and talented men. What this age wants is young men and women who can do one thing without losing their identity or individuality. unwavering aim. education will not. talent will not. The purposeless life must ever be a failure.

art. literature. weak. who live only to amuse themselves. The man without a purpose never leaves his mark upon the world. insensible to the claims of love. He was utterly oblivious of everything outside his aim. looks like insanity. lost in the crowd. "He who would do some great thing in this short life must apply himself to the work with such a concentration of his forces as. incompetent. planed down to suit the common thought until he has. wavering. He has no individuality. as a man. Even from boyhood he bent all his energy to this one great purpose. From a child.CHAPTER VI.
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them to some definite end. been lost in the throng of humanity. and reigned virtually king for a quarter of a century. living and steadily working for the sole purpose of wielding the governing power of the nation. the idea was drilled into him that he must accomplish a public career worthy of his illustrious father. He went straight from college to the House of Commons. he is absorbed in the mass. In one year he was Chancellor of the Exchequer. to idle spectators. two years later he was Prime Minister of England. His whole soul was
. who lived--ay. His outlines of individuality and angles of character have been worn off." What a great directness of purpose may be traced in the career of Pitt. and died--for the sake of political supremacy.

you shut out warm hearts and generous affections from home. my lord. Hill was chosen to introduce the system. Against the opposition and contempt of the post-office department he at length carried his point. as agreed. Mr.
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absorbed in the overmastering passion for political power. which you do now. "Consider." The lad learned that it cost to carry a letter from London to Edinburgh. and at once contributed sixty-five thousand dollars. one
." One affection. and friends. "that a letter to Ireland and the answer back would cost thousands upon thousands of my affectionate countrymen more than a fifth of their week's wages. while the government charged for a simple folded sheet of paper twenty-eight cents. Parliament voted him one hundred thousand dollars and ten thousand dollars a year for life. Christ knew that one affection rules in man's life when he said. and on January 10. If you shut the post office to them. kindred. four hundred and four miles. His success was most encouraging. 1840. "No man can serve two masters. one eighteenth of a cent. and twice as much if there was the smallest inclosure. but at the end of two years a Tory minister dismissed him without paying for his services. at the request of Queen Victoria. and." said Rowland Hill to the Prime Minister of England. at a salary of fifteen hundred pounds a year.CHAPTER VI. penny postage was established throughout Great Britain. The public was indignant.

Turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Nothing could daunt him.
. it unifies all our powers. makes strong and united what was weak. It is a great purpose which gives meaning to life. Of what use is a man who knows a little of everything and not much of anything? It is the momentum of constantly repeated acts that tells the story. and from this aim all others will take their character. Everything else will be neglected and done with half a heart. "This one thing I do" was written all over his work. The quenchless zeal of his mighty purpose burned its way down through the centuries. "Let thine eyes look straight before thee. the dungeon could not appall him. no prison suppress him. binds them together in one cable. separated. nothing intimidate." replied Michael Angelo when asked why he did not marry. "Painting is my wife and my works are my children. Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. One may have subordinate plans. "Smatterers" are weak and superficial. will be supreme in us. scattered.
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object. Paul's power lay in his strong purpose. but he can have but one supreme aim. The Roman Emperor could not muzzle him." One great secret of St. and its contagion will never cease to fire the hearts of men. obstacles could not discourage him.CHAPTER VI.

to take his place. rough and uncouth. What a stride.CHAPTER VI. Had he not been equal to it. to-day. for he made one of the greatest speeches that up to that time had ever been made in France. but. This sudden rise was not due to luck or accident. He had been expelled from the priest-making seminary as totally unfit for a priest and an utterly undisciplinable character. uncouth Bohemian. For years this youth was chained to his desk and worked like a hero. yesterday. Poverty pinched this lad hard in his little garret study and his clothes were shabby. Jules Favre was to plead a great cause on a certain day. At last his opportunity came.
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"Try and come home somebody. in the city of Marseilles. and the great Republican leader! The gossipers of France had never heard his name before. and moved that the Napoleon dynasty be
." said the fond mother to Gambetta as she sent him off to Paris to school. but what of that? He had made up his mind to get on in the world. absolutely unknown. For many years Gambetta had been preparing for such an opportunity. it would only have made him ridiculous. and he was equal to it. living in a garret. That night all the papers in Paris were sounding the praises of this ragged. being ill. he chose this young man. He had been steadfastly working and fighting his way up against opposition and poverty for just such an occasion. In two weeks. poor and unknown. deputy elect. and soon all France recognized him as the Republican leader. this ragged son of an Italian grocer arose in the Chamber.

without stain of dishonor. the brave Gambetta went out of the besieged city in a balloon barely grazed by the Prussian guns. though he might easily have made himself a millionaire. and will carry down Gambetta's name to remote posterity. He still lived in the upper room in the musty Latin quarter. provided for their maintenance. "This colossal energy is the most remarkable event of modern history. and remained a poor man. Nor did he lose his head in his quick leap into fame. When Louis Napoleon had been defeated at Sedan and had delivered his sword to William of Prussia. and when the Prussian army was marching on Paris. When Gambetta died the
. and by almost superhuman skill raised three armies of 800. is sometimes called out by a great emergency or sudden sorrow. and resolved to make his mark in the world. although but thirty-two years old. and directed their military operations. even in dissolute lives. landed in Amiens. was now virtually dictator of France. which. and ever after leads the life to victory! When Gambetta found that his first speech had electrified all France. What a striking example of the great reserve of personal power.CHAPTER VI. his great reserve rushed to the front. he was suddenly weaned from dissipation. A German officer said.
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disposed of and the Republic be declared established.000 men. and the greatest orator in the Republic." This youth who was poring over his books in an attic while other youths were promenading the Champs Élysées.

and surmounting obstacles. like driftwood." American boys should study this great man. the world stands one side and lets him pass. like a gymnasium. What a sublime spectacle it is to see a youth going straight to his goal. because he has no momentum to force them out of his way. poverty. "Duos qui sequitur lepores.
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"Figaro" said. opposition only doubles his exertions. dominated by one unwavering aim. dangers only increase his courage. as though they were but stepping-stones! Defeat. cutting his way through difficulties. disaster. "The Republic has lost its greatest man. purposeless man has who. which dishearten others. only gives him new power. runs against all sorts of snags to which he must yield. it always makes way for the man with a will in him. he never turns his eye from his goal. neutrum capit. for he loved our country. and made our Republic the pattern for France."
. No matter what comes to him. sickness. He does not have one half the opposition to overcome that the undecided. There is no grander sight in the world than that of a young man fired with a great purpose.CHAPTER VI. He is bound to win.

CHAPTER VII. and you reap a destiny. and actual experience--morality taught by good morals.--SHAKESPEARE. knowledge. God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth.--G.--SAMUEL JOHNSON.--POPE. Sow an act. and you reap a habit.
SOWING AND REAPING. that shall he also reap. sow a habit. All habits gather. BOARDMAN. D.
. rivers run to seas. Be not deceived.--GALATIANS.
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CHAPTER VII. The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt till they are too strong to be broken. sow a character. DRYDEN. Infinite good comes from good habits which must result from the common influence of example. How use doth breed a habit in a man. and you reap a character. intercourse. by unseen degrees. Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined.--PLATO. As brooks make rivers.

" said the dying Chesterfield with his old-time courtesy. then he is damned. then delightful. and then closed his eyes forever. as he roused from his lethargy a moment.--JOHN FOSTER. then frequent.
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Man is first startled by sin. We reap as we have sown.CHAPTER VII.--JEREMY TAYLOR." In the great majority of things." "Give Dayrolles a chair. and then. then habitual. went the fiery soul of that wonderful warrior. "Gentlemen of the jury. And in the field of destiny. Each began as a disobedient son. then confirmed. murmured Napoleon faintly." said the great lawyer. Then man is impenitent. We weave with colors all our own.--F. "on the wings of a tempest that raged with unwonted fury. will to be true if the habit of your life has been insincere. you will now consider your verdict. habit is a greater plague than ever afflicted Egypt. You cannot in any given case. WHITTIER. then it becomes pleasing. W. then easy. "Rogues differ little. ROBERTSON. The tissue of the life to be. up to the throne of the only power that controlled him while he lived. then obstinate. "Tête d'armée" (head of the army). by any sudden and single effort. and the next
. Lord Tenterden.

" thrilled from the lips of John B.CHAPTER VII. ****** [Illustration: VICTOR HUGO] "Every one is the son of his own works. Gough as he sank to rise no more. so repulsive to others. "Young man." "Cast forth thy act. by frequent repetitions. keep your record clean. moving in the direction of his ideal."
. What power over the mind of man is exercised by the dominant idea of his life "that parts not quite with parting breath!" It has shaped his purpose throughout his earthly career. into the ever-living." ****** "It is a beautiful arrangement in the mental and moral economy of our nature. and he passes into the Great Unknown. impelled still. that that which is performed as a duty may. thy word. and the habit of stern virtue. may hang around the neck like a wreath of flowers.
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moment his spirit spread its wings. by all the momentum resulting from his weight of character and singleness of aim. become a habit. ever-working universe: it is seed-grain that cannot die. amid the utter retrocession of the vital force.

sunlight. and. The head of this serpent had lain in a dry state for sixteen years exposed to the air and dust. anchored at the entrance to the port.
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Cholera appeared mysteriously in Toulon. So habits. and air to develop them.CHAPTER VII. and. Some of these had belonged to French soldiers who had died before Sebastopol. suddenly and mortally. The cholera of Toulon came in a direct line from the hospital of Varna. apparently gorged. had previously been preserved more than thirty years in spirits of wine. a government transport. long out of service. punctured an animal with the tooth of a rattlesnake. It went to sleep. moreover. to awaken thirty years later to victorious and venomous life. that have been lost sight of for years will spring into a new life to aid or injure us at some critical moment. after a careful examination. disused military equipments. the medical inspectors learned that the first victims were two sailors on the Montebello. For many years the vessel had been used for storing old. Professor Bonelli. on a heap of the cast-off garments of its victims. To his great astonishment an hour afterward the animal died. heat. as kernels of wheat which had been clasped in a mummy's hand four thousand years sprang into life when planted. The doctors learned that the two poor sailors were seized. They only awaited moisture. good or bad. of Turin.
. a few days after displacing a pile of equipments stored deep in the hold of the Montebello.

but it is being counted none the less. and live at ease upon the interest of the fund. "If we repeat any kind of mental effort at the same hour daily. Dr. as Professor James says. as we would guard against the plague. as thousands of others have not counted it. as many useful actions as we can." at every invitation to drink said. Down among his nerve cells and fibres the molecules are counting it.
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In Jefferson's play. "Well. It is to fund and capitalize our acquisition. he may not have counted it. For this we must make automatic and habitual. Rip Van Winkle. after he had "sworn off."
. registering and storing it up to be used against him when the next temptation comes." True. Nothing we ever do is in strict scientific literalness wiped out. and a kind heaven may not count it. and guard against the growing into ways that are likely to be disadvantageous to us. as soon as possible.CHAPTER VII." "The great thing in all education is to make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy. this time don't count. Combe says that all nervous diseases have a marked tendency to observe regular periods. we at length find ourselves entering upon it without premeditation when the time approaches. There is a tendency in the nervous system to repeat the same mode of action at regularly recurring intervals.

and. "you must know every rock and sandbank in the river. no one will know it.
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The nervous system is a living phonograph. No sound. Yes." "If you have been pilot on these waters twenty-five years. who are good church people at home." Just one little embezzlement. can escape being recorded in its wonderful mechanism." Just one little lie to help me out of this difficulty. Just one little indulgence. "just to see what it is like" has ruined many a noble life." The country youth says it when he goes to the city. say it when in Paris and Vienna. and "I won't count this time. however feeble. however slight.CHAPTER VII. but I know where the deep water is. Just one small part of my work slighted. I won't count it. yet these impressions are never erased or lost.
. Like Rip Van Winkle. infinitely more marvelous than that of Edison." said a young man to the captain of a steamer." "No. and I can return the money before it will be needed. the youth may say to himself. it won't make any great difference. I don't." no one will ever know it. and a good night's sleep will make me all right again. "I won't count this. They become forever fixed in the character." Americans. I will do this just once "just to see what it is like. Many a man has lost his balance and fallen over the precipice into the sink of iniquity while just attempting "to see what it was like. Although the molecules of this living machine may all be entirely changed many times during a lifetime. The young man says it when he drinks "just to be social.

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besides. or some other great stimulus reproduces them to the consciousness with all the fidelity of photographs. it is found in ourselves. even to the smallest detail. After fifteen years' labor he induced a chief to lay aside his blanket. passing before him in the sentiments he feels. fever. I am usually so careful that a little thing like this ought not to be counted. or good or ill. "It
. and it holds everything." In a fable one of the Fates spun filaments so fine that they were invisible. it will be counted. tried for years to implant civilization among the wild tribes. Its name is Memory.CHAPTER VII. "Our acts our angels are. in the impulses that move him apparently without cause. The Recording Angel is no myth. missionary to the Indians. although unconsciously. the token of savagery. but at all times it is really. We think we have forgotten thousands of things until mortal danger. my young friend. Father Schoenmaker. and she became a victim of her cunning. in the thoughts he thinks. Sometimes all one's past life will seem to pass before him in an instant. the deed has been recorded with an iron pen. Our fatal shadows that walk by us still. but he goes on to say. for she was bound to the spot by these very threads. But. whether you will or not.

The bird retained the habit of speech after his teachers had died. he begged to be taken back to the dungeon. probably from birth. crying and chattering without much apparent intelligence. and he raised his hands several times as if to brush away the exciting cause. Large birds on sea islands where there are no beasts to molest them lose the power of flight. At seventeen he was still a mental infant. and mules. When released." Physiologists say that dark-colored stripes similar to those on the zebra reappear.
.CHAPTER VII. After a criminal's head had been cut off his breast was irritated. Humboldt found in South America a parrot which was the only living creature that could speak a word of the language of a lost tribe. It was said that the cheek of Charlotte Corday blushed on being struck by a rude soldier after the head had been severed from the body. on the legs and shoulders of horses. could reach him. asses. and just fifteen minutes to get it on him again. in a dungeon where no light or sound from the outer world. the light was disagreeable to his eyes.
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took fifteen years to get it off. and. Caspar Hauser was confined. after a hundred or a thousand generations. after the babbling youth had been taught to speak a few words.

All that gave pleasure to others gave his perverted senses only pain. What he at first chooses. You can as easily snatch a pebble from gravitation's grasp as you can separate the minutest act of life from its inevitable effect upon character and destiny. We speak of the power of Gladstone to accomplish so much in a day as something marvelous." says George Eliot. "but deeds never. at last compels. they have an indestructible life. In spite of the protests of his weakened will the trained nerves continue to repeat the acts even when the doer abhors them. Practically all the achievements of the human race are but the accomplishments of habit.
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Only cold and dismal silence seemed to satisfy him. The sweetest music was a source of anguish to him. but when we analyze that power we find it composed very largely of the results of habit." The smirched youth becomes the tainted man. and he could eat only his black crust without violent vomiting. "Children may be strangled. Man becomes a slave to his constantly repeated acts.CHAPTER VII. acquired by repetition. Man is as irrevocably chained to his deeds as the atoms are chained by gravitation.
. He is now a great bundle of habits. His mighty momentum has been rendered possible only by the law of the power of habit. Deep in the very nature of animate existence is that principle of facility and inclination. which we call habit.

The habit of happy thought would transform the commonest life into harmony and beauty. By this habit of accuracy he has avoided many a repetition. practiced so conscientiously and persistently. The habit of directing a firm and steady will
. have thrown away. "is worth a thousand pounds a year. and strong. who marvel at his achievements. He formed the habit of accurate. His habit of industry no doubt was irksome and tedious at first.CHAPTER VII. which.
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which all his life have been forming. it has gained such momentum as to astonish the world. of looking on the bright side of things. and so. persistent. but. close." This again has saved him enormous waste of energy. allowing nothing to escape his attention. His habit of thinking. Sydney Smith says. keen observation. during his lifetime. as he tells us he has never yet been kept awake a single hour by any debate or business in Parliament. This loss of energy has wasted years of many a useful life. The will is almost omnipotent to determine habits which virtually are omnipotent. Thus he has multiplied himself many times. which might have been saved by forming the economizing habit of cheerfulness. until he could observe more in half a day in London than a score of men who have eyes but see not. has made him a power. which many others. Gladstone early formed the habit of cheerfulness. he has saved years of precious time.

of understanding." said Ruskin. After a man's habits are well set. and shorten my power of possession. or deducted from. After each act of our lives we are not the same person as before. can drive out all discordant thoughts. Habit is cumulative. "There is no fault nor folly of my life. twisted from the tiny threads of single acts which he thought were absolutely within his control! Drop a stone down a precipice. There has been something added to. and one hundred and forty-four feet the fifth second.
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upon those things which tend to produce harmony of thought would produce happiness and contentment even in the most lowly occupations. better or worse. The will. and every past effort of my life.CHAPTER VII. Our trouble is that we do not half will. our weight of character. every
. about all he can do is to sit by and observe which way he is going. "that does not rise against me and take away my joy. but quite another. rightly drilled. and eighty feet the third second. but not the same. how helpless is a weak man bound by the mighty cable of habit. Regret it as he may. and produce a reign of perpetual harmony. If it falls sixteen feet the first second. By the law of gravitation it sinks with rapidly increasing momentum. and if it falls for ten seconds it will in the last second rush through three hundred and four feet till earth stops it. it will fall forty-eight feet the next second. of sight.

when he had become an officer in the Crimea. In 1880 one hundred and forty-seven of the eight hundred and ninety-seven inmates of Auburn State Prison were there on a second visit. When a woman was dying from the effects of her husband's cruelty and debauchery from drink she asked
. The folly of the child becomes the vice of the youth. It is the momentum made up from a thousand deviations from the truth and right.CHAPTER VII.
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gleam of righteousness or good in it. is with me now to help me in my grasp of this hour and its vision. It is the result of that mysterious power which the repeated act has of getting itself repeated again and again. What brings the prisoner back the second." said a boy at Rugby when his teacher remonstrated with him for his bad penmanship. for there is a great difference between going just right and a little wrong. his illegible copy of an order caused the loss of many brave men. or fourth time? It is habit which drives him on to commit the deed which his heart abhors and which his very soul loathes. "Resist beginning" was an ancient motto which is needed in our day. "it is not worth while to worry about so trivial a fault. and then the crime of the man. third." Ten years later." "Many men of genius have written worse scrawls than I do.

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him to come to her bedside. and pleaded with him again for the sake of their children to drink no more.CHAPTER VII. he cannot weep if he would. and wonders at the solicitude of his friends. and then took it out and drained it to the bottom. No disease causes greater horror or dread than cholera. John B. and calls for ice water. His body is cold and clammy and feels like dead flesh. stole into the room where she lay cold in her coffin. yet he tells you he is warm. When the physician came they refused to let him bleed the man because they said it would affect the bet. of everything manly." That very night he poured out a tumbler of brandy. I will drink no more till I take it out of this hand which I hold in mine. until he becomes its slave! Walpole tells of a gambler who fell at the table in a fit of apoplexy. yet when it is once fastened upon a victim he is perfectly indifferent. of self-respect. and his companions began to bet upon his chances of recovery. long fingers. which has robbed him of will-power. she made him promise her: "Mary. Have you never seen
. Grasping his hand with her thin. How powerless a man is in the presence of a mighty habit. Gough told this as a true story. put the tumbler into her withered hand. and even sold pools. When President Garfield was hanging between life and death men bet heavily upon the issue. His tears are dried.

and was surprised to find that it caused no pain. the feet and hands. where he died.CHAPTER VII. The leper is often the last to suspect his danger." demanded that the heroes should actually be killed on the
. for the disease is painless in its early stages. and the soul becomes conscious of virtue sacrificed. the hideous realism of "a refined. delicate. deadening power of depraving habits and customs was strikingly illustrated by the Romans. But oh. Under Nero. So sin in its early stages is not only painless but often even pleasant. A leading lawyer and public official in the Sandwich Islands once overturned a lighted lamp on his hand. or even the arms and legs of our character. we are often unconscious of pain while the devil amputates the fingers. of manhood lost. aesthetic age. Their cold-blooded selfishness. the taste of the people had become so debauched and morbid that no mere representation of tragedy would satisfy them. The hardening. He resigned his offices and went to the leper's island.
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similar insensibility to danger in those whose habits are already dragging them to everlasting death? Etherized by the fascinations of pleasure. At last it dawned upon his mind that he was a leper. the anguish that visits the sad heart when the lethe passes away.

and there be burned alive. a real criminal was compelled to thrust his hand into the flame without a murmur. and
. When "The Conflagration" was represented on the stage they demanded that a house be actually burned and the furniture plundered.CHAPTER VII. actual shame. The poor slaves and criminals were compelled to play their parts heroically until the flames enveloped them. but after he had sailed for years under the black flag. he could rob a vessel and murder all the crew. The pirate Gibbs. Tragedy must be genuine bloodshed. Prometheus must be really chained to his rock. and Dirce in very fact be tossed and gored by the wild bull. even though it was known he would be dashed to death. comedy. and stand motionless while it was being burned. and lie down and sleep soundly. and Icarus was compelled to fly. When the heroism of "Mucius Scaevola" was represented. Hercules was compelled to ascend the funeral pyre. and he had to fling himself down and deluge the stage with his own blood.
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stage. said that when he robbed the first vessel his conscience made a hell in his bosom. A man may so accustom himself to error as to become its most devoted slave. When "Laureolus" was played they demanded that the actor be really crucified and mangled by a bear. who was executed in New York. and Orpheus be torn to pieces by a real bear. The debauched and sanguinary Romans reckoned life worthless without the most thrilling experiences of horror or delight.

then ages went on. To scalp the greatest possible number of enemies was. or to propagate it. but like them in everything else. however. so soft. so susceptible to all impressions.CHAPTER VII. "I am on the down grade and cannot get my foot on the brake. and reared it as her own. he replied. the most glorious thing in the world. The passing shower and the light foot left their prints on the soft sediment. When Gordon. different in complexion. While he was still a youth he was seen by some white traders.
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be led to commit the most fearful crimes in order to defend it. carried away a very young infant. and the sediment hardened into stone. gathers them all into itself. The child grew up with the Indian children. A woman of the tribe. When asked why he did so. and by them
. so joyous to receive new ideas. and will remain forever. he put his foot out of the bed and swung it to and fro. was dying. and there the prints remain. A tribe of Indians attacked a white settlement and murdered the few inhabitants. treasures them all up. and the footprint of some wild bird that passed across the beach in those olden times. and retains them forever. the celebrated California stage-driver." In our great museums you see stone slabs with the marks of rain that fell hundreds of years before Adam lived. in his view. So the child.

"But you are wounded?" "No. and his friend. supposing that he wished to conceal a wound which ought to be looked to. and also by his unusually shy and hurried manner. so that he desired to become a clergyman. betook himself to the Indians." said the poor victim of early habits. He fulfilled his function well. and was ordained. and never more appeared among
. After asking news of the battle the gentleman observed. in an agonized voice. and before long there was fighting not far off.CHAPTER VII. From between his shirt and his breast the friend took out--a bloody scalp! "I could not help it. too swiftly to be overtaken. He went forth in his usual dress--black coat and neat white shirt and neckcloth. After a few years he went to serve in a settlement somewhere near the seat of war which was then going on between Britain and the United States. pulled open his shirt. He turned and ran. He showed great relish for his new life. When he returned he was met by a gentleman of his acquaintance. who was immediately struck by an extraordinary change in the expression of his face and the flush on his cheek." "Not wounded! Why. He went through his college course with credit. and saw--what made the young man let fall his hands in despair. and especially a strong desire for knowledge and a sense of reverence which took the direction of religion. and appeared happy and satisfied.
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conducted back to civilized life. there is blood upon the bosom of your shirt!" The young man quickly crossed his hands firmly upon his breast.

for is it not practically certain that what I have done for twenty years I shall repeat to-day? What are the chances for a man who has been lazy and indolent all his life starting in to-morrow morning to be industrious. for a middle-aged person. clean and chaste? A Grecian flute-player charged double fees for pupils who had been taught by inferior masters. An Indian once brought up a young lion. or a spendthrift. Habit is practically. see. We cannot possibly hear. feel. a libertine. foul-mouthed man. frugal. on the ground that it was much harder to undo than to form habits.
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the whites. until at last. virtuous. So what seemed to be an "innocent" sin has grown until it strangled him who was once its easy master. he fell upon his master and tore him to pieces. did not attempt to control him. Beware of looking at sin.CHAPTER VII. for at each view it is apt to become better looking. and finding him weak and harmless. a profane. Habit tends to make us permanently what we are for the moment. fate. or experience
. when excited by rage. Every day the lion gained in strength and became more unmanageable.

whispered. "is one vast library on whose pages are written forever all that man has ever said. Rectitude is only the confirmed habit of doing what is right. You and I know men whose slightest word is unimpeachable. what we think this minute. nothing could shake our confidence in them. What we are this minute and what we do this minute. and it will cling to you in the vast forever. or done. It rushes to your lips every time you speak. it has become incorporated with their nature. Their characters bear the indelible stamp of veracity. It throws its shadow across your path whichever way you turn. They follow your pen and work their own character into every word you write. will be read in the future character as plainly as words spoken into the phonograph can be reproduced in the future." says Babbage. There are other men who cannot speak the truth: their habitual insincerity has made a twist in their characters. You are fastened to it for life. Like Banquo's ghost. Do you think yourself free? You are a slave to every sin you ever committed. Some men cannot tell a lie: the habit of truth telling is fixed." Every sin you ever committed becomes your boon companion. and drags its hideous form into your imagination every time you think. it will not down. and this twist appears in
.
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anything which is not woven in the web of character. "The air itself.CHAPTER VII.

laziness-seed. it is a power which we can use to force our way in its very teeth as does the ship. but he can see that they surely will in John Smith's case. "But where will it end?" inquired the latter. Habit. No. vice-seed.CHAPTER VII.
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their speech. He can see that others are idle and
." said Rulhière one day in the presence of Talleyrand. always get a crop. It was lifelong. One mistake too many makes all the difference between safety and destruction. How many men would like to go to sleep beggars and wake up Rothschilds or Astors? How many would fain go to bed dunces and wake up Solomons? You reap what you have sown. "I never in my life committed more than one act of folly. Oh. like the wind. Those who have sown dunce-seed. What a great thing it is to "start right" in life. They that sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind. like a child. or we can drift with it without exertion upon the rocks and shoals of destruction. the power of a repeated act to get itself repeated again and again! But. with all except his own. his little prevarications and dodgings will not make him a liar. Every young man can see that the first steps lead to the last. and thus multiply our strength. repeats whatever is done before it.

well pursued betimes. the sails are all up. May reach the dignity of crimes. and you wonder why it does not move. but cannot see it in his own case." "Small habits. A man who has formed the habit of laziness or idleness will soon be late at his engagements. But. apologize.
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on the road to ruin. And guilt grows fate that was but choice before. no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. a man who does not meet his engagements will dodge. "The first crime past compels us into more. alas! we find that he is anchored to some secret vice. If you take in one. You have seen a ship out in the bay swinging with the tide and the waves."
. and lie. prevaricate. They all belong to the same family. well educated. and we wonder that he does not advance toward manhood and character. So we often see a young man apparently well equipped. you will soon have the whole. for down beneath the water it is anchored. I have rarely known a perfectly truthful man who was always behind time. There is a wonderful relation between bad habits.CHAPTER VII. and he can never advance until he cuts loose. but it cannot.

too. No doubt the noble characters of these two men. devised a plan of self-improvement and character building. almost superhuman in their excellence. "My sins have taken such hold upon me that I am not able to look up. describing a game of cards between Jonathan Wild. The gods are just." Like the damned spot of blood on Lady Macbeth's hand. "Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here. and "of our pleasant vices make instruments to plague us. and was most careful in the formation of all habits. Wild could not keep his hands
. my heart faileth me. and we need the discipline of close application to hold us outside of our studies. Franklin. The habit-forming portion of life is the dangerous period.
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Thousands can sympathize with David when he cried. these foul spots on the imagination will not out. Fielding. says: "Such was the power of habit over the minds of these illustrious persons. and a professional gambler." The greatest value of the study of the classics and mathematics comes from the habits of accurate and concise thought which it induces. that Mr." Plato wrote over his door. Washington at thirteen wrote one hundred and ten maxims of civility and good behavior.CHAPTER VII. What a penalty nature exacts for physical sins. of pilfering propensities. are the natural result of their early care and earnest striving towards perfection.

"is a violent and treacherous schoolmistress. but having by this gentle and humble beginning.CHAPTER VII. though he was well aware Mr. It has led thousands of nature's noblemen to drunkards' and libertines' graves. a thousand temptations "Widened and strewed with flowers the way Down to eternal ruin. nor could the count abstain from palming a card. though he knew they were empty. He came to America when nine years old. fixed and established it. Wild had no money to pay him." "Habit. slips in the foot of her authority."
. to get a glass of whiskey. and exceedingly social in his tastes. and of acting. with the aid of time. and of the ability of one apparently a hopeless slave to break his fetters and walk a free man in the sunlight of heaven. slyly and unperceived.
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out of the count's pockets. of mimicry. Gough's life is a startling illustration of the power of habit." It led a New York man actually to cut off his hand with a cleaver under a test of what he would resort to. she then unmasks a furious and tyrannic countenance against which we have no more the courage nor the power so much as to lift up our eyes. Possessed of great powers of song. She." says Montaigne. by little and little.

CHAPTER VII.
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"I would give this right hand to redeem those terrible seven years of dissipation and death. It is the earliest sin that exercises the most influence for evil. In the laboratory of Faraday a workman one day knocked into a jar of acid a silver cup." he would often say in after years when. "Out of a church of twenty-seven hundred members. So a precious youth who has fallen into the sink of iniquity. with his soul still scarred and battered from his conflict with blighting passion. and a courage equal to any emergency. can only be restored by the Great Chemist. was eaten up by the acid. lost. The question came up whether it could ever be found. Benedict Arnold was the only general in the Revolution that disgraced his country. I have never had to exclude a single one who was received while a child. it disappeared." said Spurgeon. The mass was then sent to a silversmith. and the cup restored. The great chemist came in and put certain chemicals into the jar. dissolved in sin. wonderful energy. Even when a boy he was
. What is put into the first of life is put into the whole of life. He had great military talent. he tearfully urged young men to free themselves from the chains of bestial habits. and every particle of the silver was precipitated to the bottom. But Arnold did not start right. and could not be found.

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despised for his cruelty and his selfishness. YOUNG Years ago there was a district lying near Westminster Abbey. Whose steep descent in last perdition ends. to cut the feet of the barefooted boys. called the "Devil's Acre. and in cultured Boston there is an association of so-called
. where young pickpockets were trained in the art and mystery which was to conduct them in due course to an expensive voyage for the good of their country to Botany Bay. it hangs upon a precipice. to move the compassion of street-giving benevolence."--a school for vicious habits.CHAPTER VII. Let no man trust the first false step Of guilt. where there was an agency for the hire of children to be carried about by forlorn widows and deserted wives. London. Victor Hugo describes a strange association of men in the seventeenth century who bought children and distorted and made monstrosities of them to amuse the nobility with. where depravity was universal. where professional beggars were fitted with all the appliances of imposture. the soldiers hated him. Even in the army. He delighted in torturing insects and birds that he might watch their sufferings. He scattered pieces of glass and sharp tacks on the floor of the shop he was tending. in spite of his bravery. and the officers dared not trust him.

"Because you can't rub it out. Vice. too deep for erasure. "Don't write there. Murder. We ask her to leave. Sin is gradual. and children's souls. the pleasant guest which we first invited into our heart's parlor. bleary eye adds its testimony to our ruined character." said a man to a boy who was writing with a diamond pin on a pane of glass in the window of a hotel. and the glassy. "Why not?" inquired the boy. but he first lights the shavings of "innocent sins. It does not break out on a man until it has long circulated through his system. Each impure thought has chiseled its autograph deep into the forehead. becomes vulgarly familiar. and the wood the coal. and refuses to go. Our secret sins defy us from the hideous furrows they have cut in our cheeks. theft. and intrenches herself deep in our very being." Yet the glass might have been broken and all trace
." and the shavings the wood. women. but she simply laughs at us from the hideous wrinkles she has made in our faces.
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"respectable men. The devil does not apply his match to the hard coal. are not committed in deed until they have been committed in thought again and again.CHAPTER VII. adultery. But we deform ourselves with agencies so pleasant that we think we are having a good time. until we become so changed and enslaved that we scarcely recognize ourselves." who have opened thousands of "places of business" for deforming men.

that. and nobody else. The only thing to do with wild oats is to put them carefully into the hottest part of the fire."
.CHAPTER VII. as to the sowing of wild oats. will have to reap them. But for a thousand years Their fruit appears. and you." said Thomas Hughes. and nothing else. In weeds that mar the land. "for you lead them down an easy descent whereas I am forcing them to mount to virtue--an arduous ascent and unknown to most men. up they will come with long. be he young. "That may be. as sure as there is a sun in heaven. will see that they thrive. "there is none. And dream we ne'er shall see them more. more thoroughly abominable than this one. and I defy you to make anything but a devil's maxim of it. If you sow them. no matter in what ground. "In all the wide range of accepted British maxims." said the philosopher." We scatter seeds with careless hand. take it all in all. or middle-aged. tough roots and luxuriant stalks and leaves. every seed of them. sows. shall he reap. The devil. old. but things written upon the human soul can never be removed. and get them burnt to dust. too.
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of the writing lost. What man. JOHN KEBLE. Look at it on what side you will. Theodora boasted that she could draw Socrates' disciples away from him. for the tablet is immortal. whose special crop they are.

or clerk. I study his countenance. "that he is 'studying himself to death. say his unconscious and admiring friends. averted. you must lose. too often. as we try. and long life is the heritage of diligence. for industry and health are companions. that his hard work is destroying him. discolored skin.' or of a feeble young mechanic. the stream grows deep Toward the centre's
. Yet.CHAPTER VII. Thread by thread the strands we twist Till they bind us neck and wrist. nor shorten the thread of your life. unhelped. As you gathered. Thread by thread the patient hand Must untwine ere free we stand.
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"When I am told of a sickly student. As we builded." "How shall I a habit break?" As you did that habit make. read the real. sunken eye. now refuse.' observe the laws of your physical nature." said Daniel Wise. and timid manner. and erelong will be a mind in ruins or a heap of dust. stone by stone. alone. But remember. beware of his example! 'Keep thyself pure. Lighter every test goes by. and there. 'He is falling a victim to his own diligence!' Most lame and impotent conclusion! He is sapping the very source of life. As you yielded. Young man. We must toil. He is secretly destroying himself. Wading in. These signs proclaim that the young man is in some way violating the laws of his physical nature. Till the wall is overthrown. melancholy truth in his dull. and the most unrelaxing industry will never rob you of a month's health.

CHAPTER VII. the precious years we waste Leveling what we raised in haste. Doing what must be undone.
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downward sweep. JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY. Ah. Backward turn. And habit builds the bridge at last.
. Ere content or love be won! First across the gulf we cast Kite-borne threads till lines are passed. each step ashore Shallower is than that before.

--HUMPHRY DAVY. Never forget that others will depend upon you. The best education in the world is that got by struggling to obtain a living. but he does not throw it into the nest. God gives every bird its food. FILS.--DUMAS. and remember that the best men always make themselves. HOLLAND.
SELF-HELP.--SHAKESPEARE.
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CHAPTER VIII. Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie. and that you cannot depend upon them.CHAPTER VIII. my son.--WENDELL PHILLIPS.
. which we ascribe to Heaven.--J. know ye not Who would be free themselves must strike the blow? BYRON. G. Hereditary bondsmen. I learned that no man in God's wide earth is either willing or able to help any other man.--PESTALOZZI.--PATRICK HENRY. What I am I have made myself. Be sure.

and one. and uncouth.--GIBBON. In law. or scramble for pelf. or in love. which he gives himself." SAXE. Though rough. Let every eye negotiate for itself. LOWELL. it's ever the same: In the struggle for power. Shall die and leave his errand unfulfilled. Who waits to have his task marked out. more important. but he had not been in
.
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Every person has two educations. Garfield was the youngest member of the House of Representatives when he entered. What the superior man seeks is in himself: what the small man seeks is in others. uncultured.--CONFUCIUS. "Rely on yourself. "Colonel Crockett makes room for himself!" exclaimed a backwoods congressman in answer to the exclamation of the White House usher to "Make room for Colonel Crockett!" This remarkable man was not afraid to oppose the head of a great nation. one which he receives from others. In battle or business.CHAPTER VIII. Crockett was a man of great courage and determination. SHAKESPEARE. Let this be your motto. He preferred being right to being president. whatever the game. And trust no agent.

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his seat sixty days before his ability was recognized and his place conceded. Garfield (missing from book)] "Take the place and attitude which belong to you. The world must be just. He was greater than all books of tactics. Some of his victories were contrary to all instructions in military works." Grant was no book soldier. He was making a greater military history than had ever been written up to that time. for he knew that Halleck went by books. He stepped to the front with the confidence of one who belonged there. and he even cut off all communication on the Mississippi River for seven days that no orders could reach him from General Halleck.CHAPTER VIII. "and all men acquiesce. The consciousness of power is everything. and because when once in the front he played his part with an intrepidity and a commanding ease that were but the outward evidences of the immense reserves of energy on which it was in his power to draw.
. That man is strongest who owes most to himself. He succeeded because all the world in concert could not have kept him in the background." says Emerson. It leaves every man with profound unconcern to set his own rate. [Illustration: James A. He did not dare to disclose his plan to invest Vicksburg. and he was proceeding contrary to all military theories. his superior officer.

no chance. a wandering gypsy tinker. Solario. Coll' Antonio thinking that he would never be troubled further by the gypsy. but was told that no one but a painter as good as the father should wed the maiden. But later. "A person under the firm persuasion that he can command resources virtually has them.
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"Man.CHAPTER VIII.
. "Will you give me ten years to learn to paint. Louis Philippe said he was the only sovereign in Europe fit to govern. gave his spinning model to the world. with no education. his son-in-law surprised him even more by his rare skill. and so entitle myself to the hand of your daughter?" Consent was given. Judge of his surprise on learning that Solario was the artist. "it is in the inner sense of your power that resides nature's instrument for your development. it is within yourself. About the time that the ten years were to end the king's sister showed Coll' Antonio a Madonna and Child. and put a sceptre in England's right hand such as the queen never wielded. the thirteenth child. which the painter extolled in terms of the highest praise. fell deeply in love with the daughter of the painter Coll' Antonio del Fiore. in a hovel. for he could black his own boots." Richard Arkwright." says Livy." says Pestalozzi.

" It is not the men who have inherited most. which has not felt the impress of their feet. where "Fame's proud temple shines afar." "Poverty is uncomfortable.
." said James A. Garfield. the experience. but have you really given him anything? You cannot transfer the discipline. the power which the acquisition has given you. except it be in nobility of soul and purpose. who have risen highest. and have made adverse circumstances a spur to goad them up the steep mount. but rather the men with no "start" who have won fortunes." To such men. you cannot transfer the delight of achieving. In all my acquaintance I have never known a man to be drowned who was worth the saving. every possible goal is accessible. "A pair of shirtsleeves. You may leave your millions to your son. a self-made President of the United States replied.
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When asked to name his family coat-of-arms. and honest ambition has no height that genius or talent may tread. "but nine times out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim for himself.CHAPTER VIII. as I can testify.

You have taken the priceless spur--necessity--away from him. to him it may mean inaction. lethargy. honesty of dealing. patience. You thought it a kindness to deprive yourself in order that your son might begin where you left off. the spur which has goaded man to nearly all the great achievements in the history of the world. It meant a great deal for you. sagacity. You had the power which comes only from experience. method. to keep your millions intact. the lack of opportunities. foresight. the pride of acquisition. In climbing to your fortune. But you have put a crutch into his
. It was wings to you. but means nothing to your heir. it was education to you and expansion of your highest powers. which lie concealed in your wealth. and character. discipline.CHAPTER VIII. weakness.
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the joy felt only in growth. You cannot transfer the skill. ignorance. Your fortune was experience to you. to him it will be a temptation. it will be a dead weight to him. joy. promptness. the deprivations. stamina. You thought to spare him the drudgery. indolence. the character which trained habits of accuracy. politeness of manner have developed. growth. dispatch. you developed the muscle. and which alone enables you to stand firm on your dizzy height. which you had on the old farm. and strength which enabled you to maintain your lofty position. prudence. which will probably dwarf him. the hardships. an anxiety. the meagre education.

"But what becomes of the
. who was visiting England. But grief shook the sands of life as he thought only of the son who had brought disgrace upon a name before unsullied. to self-elevation." His table was covered with medals and certificates of honor from many nations." said the dying Cyrus W. will gradually die away. without which no real success. Oh. then they would have known the meaning of money. you have taken away from him the incentive to self-development. During the great financial crisis of 1857 Maria Mitchell. not being stimulated by the struggle for self-elevation. I was so unkind to Edward when I thought I was being kind.
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hand instead of a staff. his energy will be dissipated. "My life is a wreck. If I had only had firmness enough to compel my boys to earn their living. no great character is ever possible. "my fortune gone. of the fame he had won and could never lose. no real happiness. "They live on their brothers. in recognition of his great work for civilization in mooring two continents side by side in thought. to self-discipline and self-help. my home dishonored.CHAPTER VIII." was the reply. If you do everything for your son and fight his battles for him. Field. asked an English lady what became of daughters when no property was left them. his ambition. you will have a weakling on your hands at twenty-one. the wounds were sharper than those of a serpent's tooth. His enthusiasm will evaporate.

If the prop is not there down they go. in a little town near Cincinnati. There is no manhood mill which takes in boys and turns out men. Men who have been bolstered up all their lives are seldom good for anything in a crisis. who brought his wife to America in the steerage. swept the rooms. make it yourself. He accepted the first pastorate offered him.CHAPTER VIII. or unhorsed men in armor. for he trimmed the lamps. When misfortune comes. "A man's best friends are his ten fingers. Young men who are always looking for something to lean upon never amount to anything. His salary was only about $200 a year. "when there is no money left?" "They earn it. they are as helpless as capsized turtles. lift yourself." said Robert Collyer. they look around for somebody to lean upon. What you call "no chance" may be your "only chance. kindled the fires. He became literally the light of the church. Once down." Don't wait for your place to be made for you." was the reply. Henry Ward Beecher did not wait for a call to a big church with a large salary.--but he knew
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American daughters. Don't wait for somebody to give you a lift. and rang the bell. Many a frontier boy has succeeded beyond all his expectations simply because all props were knocked out from under him and he was obliged to stand upon his own feet." asked the English lady.

or it will lead you into indolence and listlessness until every effort will be disagreeable and success impossible. He felt that if there was anything in him work would bring it out. It may be applied to building up a habit of truthfulness and honesty. until idleness and inaction are painful. you cannot
. If this is so. It will do our bidding. "that it takes twenty-eight years for the brain to attain its full development. whether it be building up a character. Davidson. or tearing it down. It will brace up resolution until one may almost perform miracles. why should not one be able. or it may be dissipated in irresolution and inaction until life is a wreck. to give this long-growing organ a particular bent. T. It will hold you to your task until you have formed a powerful habit of industry and application.CHAPTER VIII. a hero or a coward. "that a good name must be the fruit of one's own exertion. a peculiar character? Why should the will not be brought to bear upon the formation of the brain as well as of the backbone?" The will is merely our steam power. "The first thing I have to impress upon you is. and we may put it to any work we please. "Physiologists tell us." says Waters. or of falsehood and dishonor. by his own efforts. It will help build up a man or a brute. It was work and opportunity that he wanted.
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that a fine church and great salary cannot make a great man. You cannot possess it by patrimony." says J.

to take earnest hold of life. under God. Of all the elements of success in life none is more vital than self-reliance." When Beethoven was examining the work of Moscheles." "I will give you just as many and just as good.--a determination to be. "if you
. help yourself. I want each young man here (you will not misunderstand me) to have faith in himself and. it is independent of birth. I could sell them and buy food and lodgings. station. crutches and life-preservers. he found written at the end "Finis." He wrote under it "Man." A young man stood listlessly watching some anglers on a bridge. At length. He was poor and dejected. and wealth. you will not light on it by chance. who chanced to overhear his words. it must be the outcome of your own endeavor. "If now I had these I would be happy. he sighed. approaching a basket filled with fish. it is commonly those who have a tough battle to begin with that make their mark upon their age." said the owner. If difficulties stand in the way. all the better. if exceptional disadvantages oppose you. and the reward of good principles and honorable conduct. the creator of your own reputation and advancement. as long as you have pluck to fight through them. scorning props and buttresses. with God's help.CHAPTER VIII.
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purchase it with money. Many a lad has good stuff in him that never comes to anything because he slips too easily into some groove of life. talents.

Counting out from them as many as were in the basket." A white squall caught a party of tourists on a lake in Scotland.CHAPTER VIII. said." "And what is that?" asked the other." shouted the bluff old boatman. the old fisherman said." The proposal was gladly accepted. not only in the getting of wealth. "Let us pray. and threatened to capsize the boat. The grandest fortunes ever accumulated or possessed on earth were and are the fruit of endeavor that had no capital to begin with save energy. intellect. and he lost all his depression in the excitement of pulling them in. From Croesus down to Rockefeller the story is the same. I wish to go on a short errand. no. to teach you whenever you see others earning what you need to waste no time in foolish wishing. Meanwhile the fish snapped greedily at the hook. and the will." The greatest curse that can befall a young man is to lean. "let the little man pray. The old man was gone so long that the young man began to get impatient. "I fulfill my promise from the fish you have caught. When the owner returned he had caught a large number. but also in the acquirement of
. but cast a line for yourself. "Only to tend this line till I come back. When it seemed that the crisis was really come the largest and strongest man in the party. and presenting them to the youth. You take an oar." "No. in a state of intense fear. my man.
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will do me a trifling favor.

. at twenty-three. and a hundred and fifty pounds. more or less. broad and smooth.
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eminence." says Sallust." says a printer's squib. standing with his hands in his pockets longing for help. those men have won most who relied most upon themselves. "The male inhabitants in the Township of Loaferdom. but he must lay the bricks himself. "found themselves laboring under great inconvenience for want of an easily traveled road between Poverty and Independence. It has been said that one of the most disgusting sights in this world is that of a young man with healthy blood. Man is not merely the architect of his own fortune. broad shoulders. "springing up under every disadvantage. Bayard Taylor. of good bone and muscle. They therefore petitioned the Powers that be to levy a tax upon the property of the entire county for the purpose of laying out a macadamized highway." "It is interesting to notice how some minds seem almost to create themselves. in the County of Hatework." says Irving. and working their solitary but irresistible way through a thousand obstacles." "Every one is the artificer of his own fortune. presentable calves.CHAPTER VIII. and all the way down hill to the latter place.

and went to the University of Marburg.CHAPTER VIII. Had I at your age some one to advise me as I now advise you.
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wrote: "I will become the sculptor of my own mind's statue. where he became noted for his indomitable industry. "not for what he can accomplish. instead of being in a subordinate position. nothing without it. and cut it open for a bathtub. "I have seen none." said Samuel Cox. "and this ought to be devoted to systematic study. of the celebrities of my time." His biography shows how often the chisel and hammer were in his hands to shape himself into his ideal. "All my energy was directed upon one end." The very next day young Tyndall began a regular course of study." said he. The gods sell everything for that. He often rose before daylight to study. known none." "Man exists for culture. Labor is the only legal tender in the world to true success. I might have been at the head of my department. He was so poor that he bought a cask. to improve myself." When young Professor Tyndall was in the government service." says Goethe. but for what can be accomplished in him. while the world was slumbering about him. he had no definite aim in life until one day a government official asked him how he employed his leisure time. You
. "You have five hours a day at your disposal.

Ask almost any great man in our large cities where he was born. The farmers' boys fill many of the greatest places in legislatures.
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will never find success "marked down. A lowly beginning and a humble origin are no bar to a great career. They have fought their way to triumph over the road of difficulty and through all sorts of opposition. Nearly all of the great capitalists of the city came from the country. "'T is better to be lowly born. and went three miles to an oyster smack. at the bar. Every one who enters makes his own door which closes behind him to all others. bought three bushels of oysters. Boys of lowly origin have made many of the greatest discoveries. Our poor boys and girls have written many of our greatest books. he could find no opening for a boy. and made it into an oyster stand on the street corner. He found a board. but what of that? He made an opening. Like Horace Greeley. to-day." The founder of Boston University left Cape Cod for Boston to make his way with a capital of only four dollars. of our universities. and have filled the highest places as teachers and journalists. in pulpits.CHAPTER VIII. in Congress. in syndicates. are presidents of our banks. of our colleges." The door to the temple of success is never left open. and wheeled them
. He borrowed a wheelbarrow. Circumstances have rarely favored great men. and he will tell you it was on a farm or in a small country village.

Where is the boy to-day who has less chance to rise in the world than Elihu Burritt. and often by candle-light? Yet. and then he bought a horse and cart. eating bread and cheese. faint. and wait and wait for some good luck to give them a lift. It cannot be coaxed or bribed. they to sell the clocks. On his way to New York he went through New Haven in a lumber wagon. While the rich boy and the idler were yawning
. and studying nights and holidays. to pick up an excellent education in the odds and ends of time which most boys throw away.CHAPTER VIII. in whose shop he had to work at the forge all the daylight. apprenticed to a blacksmith. the inventor of machine-made clocks. He afterward lived in a fine mansion in New Haven. But success is the child of drudgery and perseverance. and dally with their purpose because they have no capital to start with. pay the price and it is yours. Soon his little savings amounted to $130. Chauncey Jerome.
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to his stand. and he to make cases for them. Self-help has accomplished about all the great things of the world. he managed. started with two others on a tour through New Jersey. carrying it in his pocket that he might utilize every spare moment. This poor boy with no chance kept right on till he became the millionaire Isaac Rich. How many young men falter. by studying with a book before him at his meals.

and a desire for self-improvement. young Burritt had seized the opportunity and improved it. which overcame every obstacle in his pathway. Yet he had a thirst for knowledge. but no. and yet finding time to study seven languages in a single year! If the youth of America who are struggling against cruel circumstances. and that waste of it would make him dwindle.CHAPTER VIII. He believed. At thirty years of age he was master of every important language in Europe and was studying those of Asia. of what is called genius is merely the result of persistent. What chance had such a boy for distinction? Probably not a single youth will read this book who has not a better opportunity for success. determined industry. He snatched every spare moment at the anvil and forge as though it were gold. could only understand that ninety per cent. to do something and be somebody in the world. is in most cases downright hard work. A wealthy gentleman offered to pay his expenses at Harvard.
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and stretching and getting their eyes open. with Gladstone. that it is the slavery to a single idea which has given to
. Think of a boy working nearly all the daylight in a blacksmith's shop. Here was a determined boy. that thrift of time would repay him in after years with usury. he said he could get his education himself. even though he had to work twelve or fourteen hours a day at the forge.

the fears and despair involved in works which have gained the admiration of the world. but which have taxed the utmost powers of their authors. and put down in his memorandum book ready for any emergency. It is interesting to note that the men who talk most about genius are the men who like to work the least.
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many a mediocre talent the reputation of being a genius. polished and repolished. the head-aches. they would be inspired with new hope. You can read in a few minutes or a few hours a poem or a book with only pleasure and delight. Genius has been well defined as the infinite capacity for taking pains. what an uplift of inspiration and encouragement they would give. the disheartening trials. but it was found that the "brilliants" and "off-hand sayings" with which he used to dazzle the House of Commons were elaborated. the discouraged hours. The greatest geniuses have been the greatest workers. struggling youth could know of the heart-aches. the more he will have to say about great things being done by genius. How often I have wished that the discouraged. the nerve-aches. but the days and months of weary plodding over details
. The lazier the man. Sheridan was considered a genius.CHAPTER VIII. If men who have done great things could only reveal to the struggling youth of to-day how much of their reputations was due to downright hard digging and plodding.

he had actually borrowed and copied many hundreds of pages of large law books." Lord Eldon astonished the world with his great legal learning. John Foster would sometimes linger a week over a single sentence. pull up by the roots. line by line. thus saturating his mind with legal principles which afterward
. The drudgery which literary men have put into the productions which have stood the test of time is almost incredible. or practice any other severity on whatever he wrote. and even then was not satisfied with it. paragraph by paragraph." Hume toiled thirteen hours a day on his "History of England.
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and dreary drudgery often required to produce it would stagger belief. Lucretius worked nearly a lifetime on one poem. but when he was a student too poor to buy books. The greatest works in literature have been elaborated and elaborated. prune." he replied. one of the greatest writers of modern fiction. It completely absorbed his life. often rewritten a dozen times." Dickens. "at the rate of a line a week. left large numbers of MSS.CHAPTER VIII. till it gained his consent to exist. was so worn down by hard work that he looked as "haggard as a murderer. filled with "sudden thoughts set down for use." Even Lord Bacon. split. He would hack. "Hard at it. one of the greatest geniuses that ever lived. such as Coke upon Littleton. It is said that Bryant rewrote "Thanatopsis" a hundred times. Chalmers was once asked what Foster was about in London.

His favorite maxim was. some one declared that he wrote "drop by drop.
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blossomed out into what the world called remarkable genius. There is not one of them which I have not been obliged to transcribe four or five times before it went to press. and scarcely legible." Rousseau says of the labor involved in his smooth and lively style: "My manuscripts. and was in his study every morning." It is said that Waller spent a whole summer over ten lines in one of his poems.'" Gibbon wrote his autobiography nine times. scratched. Even Plato. Matthew Hale for years studied law sixteen hours a day. at six o'clock. Burke's famous "Letter
. interlined. blotted. one of the greatest writers that ever lived. "The barriers are not yet erected which can say to aspiring talent and industry 'thus far and no further. Some of my periods I have turned or returned in my head for five or six nights before they were fit to be put to paper. Speaking of Fox. . There is scarcely a bar in his music that was not written and rewritten at least a dozen times. ." upon which Gibbon worked twenty years. attest the trouble they cost me. . and yet youth who waste their evenings wonder at the genius which can produce "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. summer and winter. Beethoven probably surpassed all other musicians in his painstaking fidelity and persistent application.CHAPTER VIII. wrote the first sentence in his "Republic" nine different ways before he was satisfied with it.

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to a Noble Lord," one of the finest things in the English language, was so completely blotted over with alterations when the proof was returned to the printing-office that the compositors refused to correct it as it was, and entirely reset it. Burke wrote the conclusion of his speech at the trial of Hastings sixteen times, and Butler wrote his famous "Analogy" twenty times. It took Virgil seven years to write his Georgics, and twelve years to write the Aeneid. He was so displeased with the latter that he attempted to rise from his deathbed to commit it to the flames. Haydn was very poor; his father was a coachman and he, friendless and lonely, married a servant girl. He was sent away from home to act as errand boy for a music teacher. He absorbed a great deal of information, but he had a hard life of persecution until he became a barber in Vienna. Here he blacked boots for an influential man, who became a friend to him. In 1798 this poor boy's oratorio, "The Creation," came upon the musical world like the rising of a new sun which never set. He was courted by princes and dined with kings and queens; his reputation was made; there was no more barbering, no more poverty. But of his eight hundred compositions, "The Creation" eclipsed them all. He died while Napoleon's guns were bombarding Vienna, some of the shot falling in his garden. The greatest creations of musicians were written with an effort, to fill the "aching void" in the human heart.

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Frederick Douglass, America's most representative colored man, born a slave, was reared in bondage, liberated by his own exertions, educated and advanced by sheer pluck and perseverance to distinguished positions in the service of his country, and to a high place in the respect and esteem of the whole world. When a man like Lord Cavanagh, without arms or legs, manages to put himself into Parliament, when a man like Francis Joseph Campbell, a blind man, becomes a distinguished mathematician, a musician, and a great philanthropist, we get a hint as to what it means to make the most possible out of ourselves and opportunities. Perhaps ninety-nine out of a hundred under such unfortunate circumstances would be content to remain helpless objects of charity for life. If it is your call to acquire money power instead of brain power, to acquire business power instead of professional power, double your talent just the same, no matter what it may be. A glover's apprentice of Glasgow, Scotland, who was too poor to afford even a candle or a fire, and who studied by the light of the shop windows in the streets, and when the shops were closed climbed the lamp-post, holding his book in one hand, and clinging to the lamp-post with the other,--this poor boy, with less chance than almost any boy in America, became the most eminent scholar of Scotland.

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Francis Parkman, half blind, became one of America's greatest historians in spite of everything, because he made himself such. Personal value is a coin of one's own minting; one is taken at the worth he has put into himself. Franklin was but a poor printer's boy, whose highest luxury at one time was only a penny roll, eaten in the streets of Philadelphia. Richard Arkwright, a barber all his earlier life, as he rose from poverty to wealth and fame, felt the need of correcting the defects of his early education. After his fiftieth year he devoted two hours a day, snatched from his sleep, to improving himself in orthography, grammar, and writing. Michael Faraday was a poor boy, son of a blacksmith, who apprenticed him at the age of thirteen to a bookbinder in London. Michael laid the foundations of his future greatness by making himself familiar with the contents of the books he bound. He remained at night, after others had gone, to read and study the precious volumes. Lord Tenterden was proud to point out to his son the shop where his father had shaved for a penny. A French doctor once taunted Fléchier, Bishop of Nismes, who had been a tallow-chandler in his youth, with the meanness of his origin, to which he replied, "If you had been born in the same condition that I was, you would still have been but a maker of candles."

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The Duke of Argyle, walking in his garden, saw a Latin copy of Newton's "Principia" on the grass, and supposing that it had been taken from his library, called for some one to carry it back. Edmund Stone, however, the son of the duke's gardener, claimed it. "Yours?" asked the surprised nobleman. "Do you understand geometry, Latin, and Newton?" "I know a little of them," replied Edmund. "But how," asked the duke, "came you by the knowledge of all these things?" "A servant taught me to read ten years since," answered Stone. "Does one need to know anything more than the twenty-four letters, in order to learn everything else that one wishes?" The duke was astonished. "I first learned to read," said the lad; "the masons were then at work upon your house. I approached them one day and observed that the architect used a rule and compasses, and that he made calculations. I inquired what might be the meaning and use of these things, and I was informed that there was a science called arithmetic. I purchased a book of arithmetic and learned it. I was told that there was another science called geometry; I bought the necessary books and learned geometry. By reading I found that there were good books on these sciences in Latin, so I bought a dictionary and learned Latin. I understood, also, that there were good books of the same kind in French; I bought a dictionary, and learned French. This, my lord, is what I have done; it seems to me that we may learn everything when we know the twenty-four letters

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of the alphabet." Edwin Chadwick, in his report to the British Parliament, stated that children, working on half time, that is, studying three hours a day and working the rest of their time out of doors, really made the greatest intellectual progress during the year. Business men have often accomplished wonders during the busiest lives by simply devoting one, two, three, or four hours daily to study or other literary work. James Watt received only the rudiments of an education at school, for his attendance was irregular on account of delicate health. He more than made up for all deficiencies, however, by the diligence with which he pursued his studies at home. Alexander V. was a beggar; he was "born mud, and died marble." William Herschel, placed at the age of fourteen as a musician in the band of the Hanoverian Guards, devoted all his leisure to philosophical studies. He acquired a large fund of general knowledge, and in astronomy, a science in which he was wholly self-instructed, his discoveries entitle him to rank with the greatest astronomers of all time. George Washington was the son of a widow, born under the roof of a Westmoreland farmer; almost from infancy his lot had been the lot of an orphan. No academy had welcomed him to its shade, no college crowned him with its

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honors; to read, to write, to cipher, these had been his degrees in knowledge. Shakespeare learned little more than reading and writing at school, but by self-culture he made himself the great master among literary men. Burns, too, enjoyed few advantages of education, and his youth was passed in almost abject poverty. James Ferguson, the son of a half-starved peasant, learned to read by listening to the recitations of one of his elder brothers. While a mere boy he discovered several mechanical principles, made models of mills and spinning-wheels, and by means of beads on strings worked out an excellent map of the heavens. Ferguson made remarkable things with a common penknife. How many great men have mounted the hill of knowledge by out-of-the-way paths. Gifford worked his intricate problems with a shoemaker's awl on a bit of leather. Rittenhouse first calculated eclipses on his plow-handle. A will finds a way. Julius Caesar, who has been unduly honored for those great military achievements in which he appears as the scourge of his race, is far more deserving of respect for those wonderful Commentaries, in which his military exploits are recorded. He attained distinction by his writings on astronomy, grammar, history, and several other subjects. He was one of the most learned men and one of the greatest orators of his time. Yet his life was spent amid

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the turmoil of a camp or the fierce struggle of politics. If he found abundant time for study, who may not? Frederick the Great, too, was busy in camp the greater part of his life, yet whenever a leisure moment came, it was sure to be devoted to study. He wrote to a friend, "I become every day more covetous of my time, I render an account of it to myself, and I lose none of it but with great regret." Columbus, while leading the life of a sailor, managed to become the most accomplished geographer and astronomer of his time. When Peter the Great, a boy of seventeen, became the absolute ruler of Russia, his subjects were little better than savages, and in himself, even, the passions and propensities of barbarism were so strong that they were frequently exhibited during his whole career. But he determined to transform himself and the Russians into civilized people. He instituted reforms with great energy, and at the age of twenty-six started on a visit to the other countries of Europe for the purpose of learning about their arts and institutions. At Saardam, Holland, he was so impressed with the sights of the great East India dockyard, that he apprenticed himself to a shipbuilder, and helped build the St. Peter, which he promptly purchased. Continuing his travels, after he had learned his trade, he worked in England in paper-mills, saw-mills, rope-yards,

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watchmaker's shops, and other manufactories, doing the work and receiving the treatment of a common laborer. While traveling, his constant habit was to obtain as much information as he could beforehand with regard to every place he was to visit, and he would demand, "Let me see all." When setting out on his investigations, on such occasions, he carried his tablets in his hand, and whatever he deemed worthy of remembrance was carefully noted down. He would often leave his carriage, if he saw the country people at work by the wayside as he passed along, and not only enter into conversation with them, on agricultural affairs, but accompany them to their houses, examine their furniture, and take drawings of their implements of husbandry. Thus he obtained much minute and correct knowledge, which he would scarcely have acquired by other means, and which he afterward turned to admirable account in the improvement of his own country. The ancients said, "Know thyself;" the nineteenth century says, "Help thyself." Self-culture gives a second birth to the soul. A liberal education is a true regeneration. When a man is once liberally educated, he will generally remain a man, not shrink to a manikin, nor dwindle to a brute. But if he is not properly educated, if he has merely been crammed and stuffed through college, if he has merely a broken-down memory from trying to hold crammed facts

CHAPTER VIII.

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enough to pass the examination, he will continue to shrink and shrivel and dwindle, often below his original proportions, for he will lose both his confidence and self-respect, as his crammed facts, which never became a part of himself, evaporate from his distended memory. Many a youth has made his greatest effort in his graduating essay. But, alas! the beautiful flowers of rhetoric blossomed only to exhaust the parent stock, which blossoms no more forever. In Strasburg geese are crammed with food several times a day by opening their mouths and forcing the pabulum down the throat with the finger. The geese are shut up in boxes just large enough to hold them, and are not allowed to take any exercise. This is done in order to increase enormously the liver for pâté de fois gras. So are our youth sometimes stuffed with education. What are the chances for success of students who "cut" recitations or lectures, and gad, lounge about, and dissipate in the cities at night until the last two or three weeks, sometimes the last few days, before examination, when they employ tutors at exorbitant prices with the money often earned by hard-working parents, to stuff their idle brains with the pabulum of knowledge; not to increase their grasp or power of brain, not to discipline it, not for assimilation into the mental tissue to develop personal power, but to fatten the memory, the liver of the brain; to fatten it with crammed

profound. The educated taste can achieve wonders almost past belief. grasp. but it reveals marvels. and all his feelings virtues. so animated is it with intelligence. strong. The cultured hand can do a thousand things the uneducated hand cannot do.
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facts until it is sufficiently expanded to insure fifty per cent. True teaching will create a thirst for knowledge. between the cultured. and the desire to quench this thirst will lead the eager student to the Pierian spring. It becomes graceful. To educate the eye adds to its magnifying power until it sees beauty where before it saw only ugliness. to almost superhuman effort. The microscope does not create anything new. It reveals a world we never suspected. and hold the possessor. steady of nerve.CHAPTER VIII. What a contrast this. "Man might be so educated that all his prepossessions would be truth. The eye of an Agassiz could see worlds which the uneducated eye never dreamed of. The cultured will can seize. indeed it almost seems to think. The educated touch can almost perform miracles." Every bit of education or culture is of great advantage in the struggle for existence. logical. masterly reason of a Gladstone and that of the hod-carrier who has never developed or educated his reason beyond what is
. skillful. and finds the greatest beauty even in the commonest things. in the examination. with irresistible power and nerve.

even supposing you fall short of every model you set before you. "Culture comes from the constant choice of the best within our reach. still you will have passed life more nobly than the unlaborious herd. and we may obtain a lower or a higher grade hereafter. An observant professor of one of our colleges has remarked that "the mind may be so rounded and polished by education. in proportion as we are more or less fitted by the exercise of our intellect to comprehend and execute the solemn agencies of God. the sense of deficiency and of the sharp. Grant that you win not that glorious accident. 'a name below. In other men not thus trained. to attempt to delight or instruct your race. not in the world of men. but of spirits? The powers of the mind cannot be less immortal than the mere sense of identity.
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necessary to enable him to mix mortar and carry brick. jagged corners of their knowledge leads to efforts to fill up the chasms. as not to be energetic in any one faculty. rendering them at last far
. "Continue to cultivate the mind.' how can you tell but that you may have fitted yourself for high destiny and employ. to sharpen by exercise the genius." But be careful to avoid that over-intellectual culture which is purchased at the expense of moral vigor.CHAPTER VIII." says Bulwer. and. their acquisitions accompany us through the Eternal Progress. so well balanced. supposing your name moulder with your dust.

to thinking. not growth. makes manhood. All learning is self-teaching. The great business of the master is to teach the pupil to teach himself. pull." says Isaac Taylor.CHAPTER VIII." said Rousseau. and one of the easiest operations. "Accustom yourself. "Thinking. it is yet desirable that it should have two or three rough-hewn features of massive strength. strike. you expand your chest."
. easy-going graduate who has just knowledge enough to prevent consciousness of his ignorance." In a gymnasium you tug. To join thinking with reading is one of the first maxims. so you can develop your moral and intellectual nature only by continued effort. not to read and brood over what other men have been and done. Young men are too apt to forget the great end of life which is to be and do. It is upon the working of the pupil's own mind that his progress in knowledge depends.
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better educated men than the polished. run. While all the faculties of the mind should be cultivated. you push. therefore. "I repeat that my object is not to give him knowledge but to teach him how to acquire it at need. Set yourself to understand whatever you see or read. in order to develop your physical self.

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"How few think justly of the thinking few: How many never think who think they do."
.CHAPTER VIII.

Oaks that flourish for a thousand years do not spring up into beauty like a reed.--THOREAU.
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CHAPTER IX. practice what you know. and they shall be enlarged.--CICERO. a diligent preparation should be made. Many a genius has been slow of growth. and you shall attain to higher knowledge.--ARNOLD. and vein that runs throughout the body of it.
WORK AND WAIT. spot. What we do upon some great occasion will probably depend on what we already are.--H. P. and discovers every ornamental cloud.
.--GEORGE HENRY LEWES. All good abides with him who waiteth wisely. and what we are will be the result of previous years of self-discipline. before beginning. I consider a human soul without education like marble in a quarry which shows none of its inherent beauties until the skill of the polisher sketches out the colors. In all matters.--ADDISON. Use your gifts faithfully. makes the surface shine.CHAPTER IX. LIDDON.

--EDWARD EVERETT. is that of appropriate preliminary education. and do more work with less effort. Although but eighteen years old.--CHURCHILL. "Wisely and slow. of peace and war." How can we expect a harvest of thought who have not had the seed-time of character?--THOREAU. Haste trips up its own heels. fetters and stops itself. diligent application to learn the art and assiduity in practicing it. ever the worse speed. speaking of his arrival in London in 1831. and without an
.--CHARLES KINGSLEY. all the offices.
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The more haste. both public and private.--MILTON. the more you can save yourself and that which belongs to you. The more you know.CHAPTER IX.--SENECA. and magnanimously. The safe path to excellence and success. skillfully. they stumble that run fast. "I was a mere cipher in that vast sea of human enterprise. in every calling." said Henry Bessemer. I call a complete and generous education that which fits a man to perform justly.

or an office for life at eight hundred pounds a year. His method was so simple that one could learn in ten minutes how to make a die from an embossed stamp for a penny. In explaining his invention. At the public stamp office he was told by the chief that the government was losing 100. Bessemer chose the office.
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acquaintance in the city. Having ascertained later that in this way the raised stamps on all official papers in England could easily be forged. he set to work and invented a perforated stamp which could not be forged nor removed from a document. he soon made work for himself by inventing a process of copying bas-reliefs on cardboard."
. So he offered Bessemer a definite sum for his process of perforation. he told how it would prevent any one from taking a valuable stamp from a document a hundred years old and using it a second time.CHAPTER IX. The chief also appreciated the new danger of easy counterfeiting. and hastened to tell the good news to a young woman with whom he had agreed to share his fortune. ****** [Illustration: THOMAS ALVA EDISON] "The Wizard of Menlo Park.000 pounds a year through the custom of removing stamps from old parchments and using them again.

whether the world applaud or hiss.000 pounds a year. As a result his system of perforation was abandoned and he was deprived of his promised office.
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"What the world wants is men who have the nerve and the grit to work and wait. but. surely. if published in its connection.
. by keeping out of the ponderous minds of the British revenue officers. "I understand that. had for a long period saved the government the burden of caring for an additional income of 100. of the idea conveyed by that little insignificant word." said his betrothed. but.CHAPTER IX. would render Henry's perforation device of far less value than a last year's bird's nest. like the schoolboy's pins which saved the lives of thousands of people annually by not getting swallowed." This was a very short speech. without compensation. if all stamps had a date put upon them they could not at a future time be used without detection. that little word. And the same little word." ****** "Yes. and suggested the improvement at the stamp office. and of no special importance if we omit a single word of four letters. the government coolly making use from that day to this. Henry felt proud of the young woman's ingenuity.

on churches. and is written on everything. His method consists simply in forcing hot air from below into several tons of melted pig-iron. The boy can't wait to become a youth. but. so as to produce intense combustion. seminary. A little education is all they want. "All things come round to him who will but wait. How seldom you find a young man or woman who is willing to take time to prepare for his life work.
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So Bessemer's financial prospects were not very encouraging. on society. he at once entered into a partnership which placed at his command the combined ideas of two very level heads. to change the whole mass to steel. nor the
. which has revolutionized the iron industry throughout the world. an ore rich in carbon. was the Bessemer process of making steel cheaply. and then adding enough spiegel-eisen (looking-glass iron). He discovered this simple process only after trying in vain much more difficult and expensive methods. or college. Can't wait for a high school. The result. "Can't wait" is characteristic of the century. on schools. after years of thought and experiment. on commerce. realizing that the best capital a young man can have is a capital wife. and then they are ready for business.CHAPTER IX. a little smattering of books." The great lack of the age is want of thoroughness.

and many die of old age in the forties. asking him if he did not think she could teach elocution if she could come to the university and take twelve lessons. and break down in middle life. The weary years in preparatory school and college dishearten them.-"A little learning is a dangerous thing." Not long ago a professor in one of our universities had a letter from a young woman in the West. But the way to shorten the road to success is to take plenty of time to lay in your reserve power.CHAPTER IX. Drink deep. and want it quickly. or taste not the Pierian spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain." are pitiable. But as Pope says. They only want a "smattering" of an education. and everything is made "to sell.
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youth a man. Short cuts and abridged methods are the demand of the hour. And drinking largely sobers us again." The shifts to cover up ignorance. feverish work. Youth rush into business with no great reserve of education or drill. of course they do poor. You can't stop to forage your provender as the army advances. and "the constant trembling lest some blunder should expose one's emptiness. Our young people of to-day want something.
. if you do the enemy will get there first. Everybody is in a hurry. They are not willing to lay broad. Buildings are rushed up so quickly that they will not stand. deep foundations.

CHAPTER IX. When an authoress told Wordsworth she had spent six hours on a poem. he replied that he would have spent six weeks. Owens was working on the "Commentary to the Epistle to the Hebrews" for twenty years. Don't risk a life's superstructure upon a day's foundation. a definite aim. Unless you have prepared yourself to profit by your chance. What will she not do for the greatest of her creation? Ages and aeons are nothing to her. She works ages to bring a flower to perfection. Think of Bishop Hall spending thirty years on one of his works.
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Hard work. Beware of that fatal facility of thoughtless speech and superficial action which has misled many a young man into the belief that he could make a glib tongue or a deft hand take the place of deep study or hard work. and faithfulness. and never executed a page
. will shorten the way. the opportunity will only make you ridiculous. Carlyle wrote with the utmost difficulty. out of them she has been carving her great statue. a perfect man. A great occasion is valuable to you just in proportion as you have educated yourself to make use of it. Moore spent several weeks on one of his musical stanzas which reads as if it were a dash of genius. Johnson said a man must turn over half a library to write one book. Patience is nature's motto.

so that every sentence is the quintessence of many books. To-day. To-day very few boys learn any trade. but they were respectfully declined. One of the leading magazines ridiculed Tennyson's first poems. In some respects it is very unfortunate that the old system of binding boys out to a trade has been abandoned. But when Carlyle brought it to London in 1851. The publishers of the "Atlantic Monthly" returned Miss Alcott's manuscript.
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of his great histories till he had consulted every known authority." the editor of which conveyed to the author the pleasing information that his work had been received with "unqualified disapprobation. just as a student crams for a
. as they go along. it was refused almost contemptuously by three prominent publishers. and consigned the young poet to oblivion. "Sartor Resartus" is everywhere.CHAPTER IX. Only one of Ralph Waldo Emerson's books had a remunerative sale. suggesting that she had better stick to teaching. They pick up what they know. Washington Irving was nearly seventy years old before the income from his books paid the expenses of his household. You can get it for a mere trifle at almost any bookseller's. the product of many hours of drudging research in the great libraries. and hundreds of thousands of copies are scattered over the world." Henry Ward Beecher sent a half dozen articles to the publisher of a religious paper to pay for his subscription. At last he managed to get it into "Fraser's Magazine.

CHAPTER IX. but it took me thirty years to learn how to do it in five minutes. for they also thought nothing of it. and he slept in his clothes. A rich man asked Howard Burnett to do a little thing for his album." said a young sprig of divinity." without any effort to see how much he may learn on any subject."
. "Yes." "I prepared that sermon. but he kept bread within reach that he might eat when hunger impelled. "in half an hour." said an older minister. and thought nothing of it. "But it took you only five minutes. Think of an American youth spending twelve years with Michael Angelo." "In that. in a quarter of that time. just to "get through. Most young American artists would expect. studying anatomy that he might create the masterpiece of all art. While Michael Angelo was painting the Sistine Chapel he would not allow himself time for meals or to dress or undress. "your hearers are at one with you. or with Da Vinci devoting ten years to the model of an equestrian statue that he might master the anatomy of the horse." objected the rich man. and preached it at once. to sculpture an Apollo Belvidere. Burnett complied and charged a thousand francs.
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particular examination.

twenty years on a condensing engine. and
. a Grant. a Michael Angelo. a Lady Franklin. lest his pencil might catch the taint of avarice. who can spend twenty-six years on the "History of the United States. destined to shake an empire. a Watt. a Von Moltke. a Field's untiring perseverance. who can devote thirty-six years to a dictionary. a Gibbon. to borrow the history of the French Revolution. a Farragut. spending seven years on the "Last Supper. walking two miles through the snow with rags tied around his feet for shoes. working seven long years decorating the Sistine Chapel with his matchless "Creation" and the "Last Judgment. fighting on in heroic silence." a Mirabeau. who can struggle on for forty years before he has a chance to show his vast reserve. who can plod for twenty years on the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.CHAPTER IX. working fifteen years on a locomotive. spending years and a fortune laying a cable when all the world called him a fool." refusing all remuneration therefor. It wants a Bancroft." a Stephenson. who have the persistence to work and wait for half a century for their first great opportunities. burning his lamp fifteen minutes later than a rival student in his academy." a Noah Webster. a Garfield. a Titian. a Thurlow Weed. working incessantly for twelve long years to rescue her husband from the polar seas. when denounced by his brother generals and politicians everywhere. whether the world applaud or hiss.
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What the age wants is men who have the nerve and the grit to work and wait.

debt.CHAPTER IX. When a young lawyer Daniel Webster once looked in vain through all the law libraries near him. Going back to the time of Charles II. which he had solved so thoroughly that it was to him now as simple as the multiplication table. only charged fifteen dollars. not hindered by discouragements. he gave the law and precedents involved with such readiness and accuracy of sequence that Burr asked in great surprise if he had been consulted before in the case. He saw in a moment that it was just like the blacksmith's case. but. on account of the poverty of his client. elaborating "Paradise Lost" in a world he could not see. a Thackeray. as he was passing through New York city. Years after. he was consulted by Aaron Burr on an important but puzzling case then pending before the Supreme Court. It wants men who can work and wait. toiling and waiting in a lonely garret. whom neither poverty. He won his cause. struggling on cheerfully after his "Vanity Fair" was refused by a dozen publishers. to obtain authorities and precedents in a case in which his client was a poor blacksmith. nor hunger could discourage or intimidate. and then selling it for fifteen pounds. "Most certainly
. to say nothing of his time. an intricate question of title. a Balzac. thus losing heavily on the books bought. a Milton.
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eagerly devouring it before the sap-bush fire. and then ordered at an expense of fifty dollars the necessary books. not daunted by privations.

solid foundation." "Very well. unseen and unappreciated by those who tread about that historic shaft. Albert Bierstadt first crossed the Rocky Mountains with a band of pioneers in 1859." he replied. so deep must they dig to build on the living rock.CHAPTER IX. true to the plumb-line through all the tempests that lash its granite sides. apparently thrown away. To perfect this great work he had spent twenty years. which enables it to stand upright. Fifty feet of Bunker Hill Monument is under ground. A large
. must have a deep." and. "I never heard of your case till this evening. "proceed. when he had finished. Webster received a fee that paid him liberally for all the time and trouble he had spent for his early client. which will stand the test of time." said Burr. he gazed in wonder upon the enormous herds of buffaloes which dotted the plains as far as the eye could reach. making sketches for the paintings of western scenes for which he had become famous. Everything which endures. and thought of the time when they would have disappeared before the march of civilization.
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not. In Rome the foundation is often the most expensive part of an edifice. As he followed the trail to Pike's Peak. but it is this foundation. The thought haunted him and found its final embodiment in "The Last of the Buffaloes" in 1890.

and for thirty-four years worked and waited for his opportunity. It was working and waiting many long and weary years that put one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars into "The Angelus. Schiller "never could get done.
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part of every successful life must be spent in laying foundation stones under ground." Havelock joined the army at twenty-eight. nor a scrap in literature." But during all these years he was fitting himself to lead that marvelous march to Lucknow. "fretting as a subaltern while he saw drunkards and fools put above his head. the later were worth fortunes. by working like galley-slaves at literature for half a lifetime. "a book in all the depths of learning. nor a work in
. Success is the child of drudgery and perseverance and depends upon "knowing how long it takes to succeed." It is working and waiting that gives perfection.CHAPTER IX." said Beecher." How came writers to be famous? By writing for years without any pay at all. It was many years of drudgery and reading a thousand volumes that enabled George Eliot to get fifty thousand dollars for "Daniel Deronda. "I do not remember. conscious of his power." Dante sees himself "growing lean over his Divine Comedy. by writing hundreds of pages for mere practice work." Millet's first attempts were mere daubs.

"and often I did not leave it for fifteen or eighteen hours."
. The pianist Thalberg said he never ventured to perform one of his celebrated pieces in public until he had played it at least fifteen hundred times. Before Edmund Kean would consent to appear in that character which he acted with such consummate skill. he said it was all a question of hard work.CHAPTER IX. such perseverance. would put to shame many a man who claims genius.
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all the schools of art. Byron fainted. who went to see him with Moore. "For years I was in my place of business by sunrise." said a wealthy banker who had begun without a dollar. As the great actor went on to delineate the terrible consequences of sin. When he appeared upon the stage. however noble. studying expression for a year and a half. said he never looked upon so fearful and wicked a face. He laid no claim whatever to genius. Byron. he practiced constantly before a glass. The accomplishments of such industry. that is not known to have been long and patiently elaborated. from which its author has derived a permanent renown." Endurance is a much better test of character than any one act of heroism. The Gentleman Villain.

' He then turned over and went to sleep and awoke at his usual hour in the morning. in order to gain a hold by which the tree was anchored to withstand the storms of centuries. ---. perhaps the most beautiful ever painted.CHAPTER IX. Said Captain Bingham: "You can have no idea of the wonderful machine that the German army is and how well it is prepared for war. but he left therein. Da Vinci spent four years on the head of Mona Lisa.in my safe and take a paper from it and telegraph as there directed to the different troops of the empire. an artistic thought for all time. Every one else in Berlin was excited about
. And every officer's place in the scheme is laid out beforehand. He said coolly to the official who aroused him. it is said. Patience. Von Moltke was awakened at midnight and told of the fact. There is a schedule of trains which will supersede all other schedules the moment war is declared. When the Franco-Prussian war was declared. A chart is made out which shows just what must be done in the case of wars with the different nations. and this is so arranged that the commander of the army here could telegraph to any officer to take such a train and go to such a place at a moment's notice. changes the mulberry leaf to satin. 'Go to pigeonhole No. The giant oak on the hillside was detained months or years in its upward growth while its roots took a great turn around some rock.
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Festina lente--hasten slowly--is a good Latin motto.

Better believe yourself a dunce and work away than a genius and be idle.' replied Von Moltke." says Bulwer. Soon ripe. The facility with which the world swallows up the ordinary college graduate who thought he was going to dazzle mankind should bid you pause and reflect. But just as certainly as man was created not to crawl on all fours in the depths of primeval forests. "is one step from sin.'" That is done soon enough which is done well. one step from sin is one step nearer to Heaven. and only by means of it will he become what he ought to become. 'all of my work for this time has been done long beforehand and everything that can be done now has been done.
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the war. One year of trained thinking is worth more than a whole college course of mental absorption of a vast series of undigested facts. He that would enjoy the fruit must not gather the flower.--man. in the highest sense of the word. Aren't you afraid of the situation? I should think you would be busy. He who is impatient to become his own master is more likely to become his own slave. you seem to be taking it very easy. but Von Moltke took his morning walk as usual."
. and a friend who met him said. just so certainly he needs education.' 'Ah. Ignorance is not simply the negation of knowledge. it is the misdirection of the mind.CHAPTER IX. 'General. "One step in knowledge. soon rotten. but to develop his mental and moral faculties.

"Indeed. you have been to college." "If a cloth were drawn around the eyes of Praxiteles' statue of Love." retorted the clergyman. "the face looked grave and sad." said the former.CHAPTER IX. Even a few weeks' or months' drill of the rawest and roughest recruits in the late Civil War so straightened
. "I have just begun my education." was the reply." Many an extraordinary man has been made out of a very ordinary boy." "A similar event. but as the bandage was removed. and had come to say good-by. a beautiful smile would overspread the countenance. but in order to accomplish this we must begin with him while he is young." said the President. It is simply astonishing what training will do for a rough. Even so does the removal of the veil of ignorance from the eyes of the mind bring radiant happiness to the heart of man. "that the Lord opened my mouth without any learning. I presume?" "Yes. uncouth. and comes under the tutelage of a skilled educator before his habits have become confirmed. "I am thankful." says Bulwer. sir. "happened in Balaam's time. if he has good material in him.
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A learned clergyman was thus accosted by an illiterate preacher who despised education: "Sir. and even dull lad." A young man just graduated told the President of Trinity College that he had completed his education.

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and dignified stooping and uncouth soldiers. does not like sowing and reaping. for be learns to economize his time. Laziness begins in cobwebs and ends in iron chains. an ornament to the human race instead of a foul blot and scar. according to a wise teacher. had he only been fortunate enough early in life to have come under efficient and systematic training. which would have developed him into a magnificent man. or living out a miserable existence in the slums of our cities. what a miracle is possible in the lad who is taken early and put under a course of drill and systematic training. slovenly. the more he can do. the reserved self-control. mental. and made them so manly. is
. that their own friends scarcely knew them. has possibilities slumbering within the rags. If this change is so marked in the youth who has grown to maturity. The more business a man has. the measuring of values. bent over. uncouth. and moral. the knowledge of what a dollar costs to the average man. and courteous in their bearing. How many a man who is now in the penitentiary. the patience that is required in obtaining them. The industry that acquired riches. in the poorhouse. But woe to the young farmer who hates farming. or among the tramps. both physical. erect.CHAPTER IX. rough. the memory of it--all these things are preservative. the sympathy felt for fellow-toilers.

But he had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and a determination to get on in the world. To Jonas Chickering there were no trifles in the manufacture of a piano. but
.CHAPTER IX. and I have succeeded. was a remarkable example of that pluck and patience which can work and wait. He braided straw to get money to buy books which his soul thirsted for.' but the instrument responded 'pecia. specia. Horace Mann. and comes to the city. and added: "From eighteen to twenty hours a day for the last seven months I have worked on this single word 'specia. His only inheritance was poverty and hard work. But I held firm. the great author of the common school system of Massachusetts.' I said into the phonograph 'specia. Others might work for salaries. thinking that he can break into the palace of wealth and rob it of its golden treasures! Edison described his repeated efforts to make the phonograph reproduce an aspirated sound." The road to distinction must be paved with years of self-denial and hard work. hoping to become suddenly rich. pecia. pecia.' It was enough to drive one mad.
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impatient with the dilatory and slow path to a small though secure fortune in the neighborhood where he was born. specia.

not quantity. he not only spent eleven terms more in the study of the law. "It is thy own. Work then like a star. And he strove patiently and persistently till he succeeded. instrument compared with the perfect mechanism of to-day. unhasting. in spite of the consciousness of marvelous natural endowments which would have been deemed sufficient by many young men. and one which would withstand atmospheric changes and preserve its purity and truthfulness of tone." said Carlyle. Chickering was determined to make a piano which would yield the fullest. Fifty years ago the piano was a miserable. but a solemn reality. "Thy life. He could afford to work and wait. although he had spent many years of preparation for his life work. and amid all his public and private duties. richest volume of melody with the least exertion to the player. but he studied Greek constantly and read every well written book or paper he could obtain." Gladstone was bound to win.
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he was working for fame and fortune.CHAPTER IX. so determined was
. is no idle dream. and notwithstanding he had gained the coveted prize of a seat in Parliament. wert thou the pitifullest of all the sons of earth. was his aim. for quality. yet he decided to make himself master of the situation. Neither time nor pains were of any account to him compared with accuracy and knowledge. It is all thou hast to comfort eternity with. yet unresting.

however late. every opportunity. It exactly fitted the occasion. and grinding them all up into experience. no matter how insignificant it may seem at the time." replied his friend. and I used to say to myself. "But. A friend says of him. You will find use for all of it. I can see the result. "a
. Webster once repeated an anecdote with effect which he heard fourteen years before. saying he was very busy and had no time to master the subject.'" Ole Bull said." Webster was once urged to speak on a subject of great importance. every occasion.
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he that his life should be rounded out to its fullest measure. "It is an ill mason that rejects any stone. and which he had not thought of in the mean time." The habit of seizing every bit of knowledge. cannot be overestimated. "When I passed the palace at Berlin night after night. Emperor William I. but the secret of his power lay in tireless perseverance. was not a genius. 'That is how the imperial crown of Germany was won. "If I practice one day. and that his mind should have broad and liberal culture. If I practice two days my friends can see it.CHAPTER IX. if I practice three days the great public can see it. I always saw that grand imperial figure standing beside the green lamp. but refused.

his "impromptu" speech. it was said." The law of labor is equally binding on genius and mediocrity. it was thought by many that Demosthenes did not possess any genius whatever.CHAPTER IX.
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very few words from you would do much to awaken public attention to it. even to make remarks. it is because I do not allow myself to speak on any subject until my mind is imbued with it. it is the fruit of labor and thought. All the genius I have lies just in this: when I have a subject in hand I study it profoundly. My mind becomes pervaded with it.
." In fact. In any meeting or assembly. "If there be so much weight in my words. but replied. but after he had gone. I explore it in all its bearings. "I am not prepared. when called upon. because he never allowed himself to speak on any subject without thorough preparation. Demosthenes was once urged to speak on a great and sudden emergency. Day and night it is before me." Webster replied. he would never rise. Then the effort which I make the people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. without previously preparing himself. "Men give me credit for genius. was found in the book which he had forgotten to take away." On one occasion Webster made a remarkable speech before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Harvard. carefully written out. Alexander Hamilton said. when a book was presented to him.

"do not allow their principles to take root.CHAPTER IX. "Many men. As well might one who is desirous of enjoying firm health inoculate his system with the seeds of disease. the opera." We must not only work. of getting along nicely and easily during the day. but wait. said that if he had four minutes in which to perform an operation.
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Are the results so distant that you delay the preparation in the hope that fortuitous good luck may make it unnecessary? As well might the husbandman delay sowing his seed until the spring and summer are past and the ground hardened by the frosts of a rigorous winter. he would take one minute to consider how best to do it. and talking about the theatre. to see if they are growing. because he will not join in wasting his time in dissipation." says Longfellow. on which a life depended. ridiculing the faithful young fellow who came to learn the business and make a man of himself." says Sizer. when he will be glad to accept a situation from his fellow-clerk whom he now
. if his useless life is not earlier blasted by vicious indulgences. the great surgeon. will see the day. Nelaton. as children do flowers they have planted. "The spruce young spark. but pull them up every now and then. "who thinks chiefly of his mustache and boots and shiny hat. and expect at such time as he may see fit to recover from its effects. and banish the malady. or a fast horse.

The easily discouraged. when the latter shall stand in the firm. when all the happiness of his home forever depends on the chances or the passions of the hour! A youth thoughtless." "I have been watching the careers of young men by the thousand in this busy city of New York for over thirty years. let him forget his toil. when his every action is a foundation-stone of future conduct." said Dr. "and nothing can any way be materially altered in his fate. who are pushed back by a straw. Cuyler. rather than
. They who understand and practice Abraham Lincoln's homely maxim of 'pegging away' have achieved the solidest success. when the career of all his days depends on the opportunity of a moment! A youth thoughtless. and every imagination a foundation of life or death! Be thoughtless in any after years." "When a man has done his work. "and I find that the chief difference between the successful and the failures lies in the single element of staying power. but what excuse can you find for willfulness of thought at the very lime when every crisis of fortune hangs on your decisions? A youth thoughtless.
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ridicules and affects to despise." says Ruskin. however brilliant. dispensing benefits and acquiring fortune. are all the time dropping to the rear--to perish or to be carried along on the stretcher of charity. Permanent success is oftener won by holding on than by sudden dash. and jest with his fate if he will.CHAPTER IX.

CHAPTER IX. Collyer declares that reserves mean to a man also achievement.--to do well always. but was refused. Nothing should ever be left to be done there. there is only one place where a man may be nobly thoughtless. because you never are beaten. but meanwhile he studied with all his might." Every defeat is a Waterloo to him who has no reserves. indeed. Reserves which carry us through great emergencies are the result of long working and long waiting. but best in the crisis on which all things turn." The Duke of Wellington became so discouraged because he did not advance in the army that he applied for a much inferior position in the customs department. his deathbed. or some precious thing will be lost. and so to never know you are beaten.
. to stand the strain of a long fight. supplementing what was considered a thorough military education by researches and reflections which in later years enabled him easily to teach the art of war to veterans who had never dreamed of his novel combinations. and still find you have something left.
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now--though. Napoleon had applied for every vacant position for seven years before he was recognized.--"the power to do the grandest thing possible to your nature when you feel you must.

we learn. with fixed purpose.
. and they led to a knowledge of astronomy. Inventors in search of one object have failed in their quest. "One who reads the chronicles of discoveries is struck with the prominent part that accident has played in such annals. Saul is not the only man who has gone in search of asses and found a kingdom. but have stumbled on something more valuable than that for which they were looking. and from their efforts sprung the science of chemistry. or of tardiness. "Not for school. fickleness. and thoroughness. but for life.CHAPTER IX. Alchemists were seeking for the philosopher's stone. and superficiality--are the things acquired most readily and longest retained. A careless glance at such facts might encourage the delusion that aimless straying in bypaths is quite as likely to be rewarded as is the steady pressing forward. earnestness. and discovered a star other than the one for which they were looking.
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He only is independent in action who has been earnest and thorough in preparation and self-culture. For some of the most useful processes and machinery the world is indebted to apparently chance occurrences. towards some definite goal. Astrologers sought to read from the heavens the fate of men and the fortune of nations. Men explored the heavens for something to explain irregularities in the movements of the planets." and our habits--of promptness.

Patience. When the ledge has been drilled and loaded and the proper connections have been made. and not the slumber. but it is only the merchantman who is on the watch for goodly pearls who is represented as finding the pearl of great price. but without the long preparation the pressure of a giant's hand would be without effect." To vary the language of another. but it was the work they did before going to sleep. that gave the eminence. but the greatest of these is
. If vain search for hidden treasure has no other recompense.CHAPTER IX. "In the search for truth and the shaping of character the principle remains the same as in science and literature. it at least gives ability to detect the first gleam of the true metal. Trivial causes are followed by wonderful results. Men may wake at times surprised to find themselves famous. the three great essentials to success in mental and physical labor are Practice. and Perseverance.
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"But it is to be remembered that the men who made the accidental discoveries were men who were looking for something. a child's touch on the electric key may be enough to annihilate the obstacle. Others might have encountered the same facts. but only the eye made eager by the strain of long watching would be quick to note the meaning. The unexpected achievement was but the return for the toil after what was attained.

then. be up and doing.CHAPTER IX. With a heart for any fate.
. Let us. Still achieving.
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Perseverance. LONGFELLOW. Learn to labor and to wait. still pursuing.

Than in the lap of sensual ease forego The godlike power to do. Though a whole town's against him. Unmindful. Let fortune empty her whole quiver on me. There's a brave fellow! There's a man of pluck! A man who's not afraid to say his say. DRYDEN. SHAKESPEARE.CHAPTER X.
CLEAR GRIT. and verge enough for more. Better to stem with heart and hand The roaring tide of life. Can take in all.
. What though ten thousand faint. I shall show the cinders of my spirits Through the ashes of my chance.--Victory! HORATIUS BONAR. LONGFELLOW. or yield. WHITTIER. Of God's occasions drifting by! Better with naked nerve to hear The needles of this goading air. I have a soul that. Thine be the captain's watchword. Desert. than lie.
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CHAPTER X. on its flowery strand. like an ample shield. the godlike aim to know. or in weak terror flee! Heed not the panic of the multitude.

on the little island of Gallo in the Pacific. nakedness. the drenching storm. Is it necessary to add that all difficulties yielded at last to such resolute determination?
. as he turned toward the south." So saying. he crossed the line and was followed by thirteen Spaniards in armor. At the time they had not even a vessel to transport them to the country they wished to conquer. "on that side are toil. and death.CHAPTER X. Attempt the end and never stand to doubt. when his men were clamoring to return to Panama. Panama and its poverty. each man.
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Our greatest glory is not in never falling. hunger. "Friends and comrades." said Pizarro.--GOLDSMITH. Choose. what best becomes a brave Castilian. desertion. For my part. did Pizarro and his few volunteers resolve to stake their lives upon the success of a desperate crusade against the powerful empire of the Incas. on this side. I go to the south. "Thus far and no farther. here. The barriers are not yet erected which shall say to aspiring talent. after tracing with his sword upon the sand a line from east to west. Thus."--BEETHOVEN. Nothing's so hard but search will find it out. ease and pleasure. but in rising every time we fall. There lies Peru with its riches. HERRICK.

" "Stick to your aim: the mongrel's hold will slip." she replied.
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****** [Illustration: ANDREW JACKSON] "Old Hickory. had fled from an open-air platform. the eye that never blenches. "they are coming. and plucks success E'en from the spear-proof crest of rugged danger." "But who will take care of you?" asked Foster. But only crowbars loose the bull-dog's grip. the thought that never wanders.CHAPTER X." At a time when abolitionists were dangerously unpopular. That wins each godlike act. "You had better run.--these are the masters of victory. calmly laying her hand within the arm of a burly rioter with
." "The nerve that never relaxes." said she. Stephen. "This gentleman will take care of me. except Stephen Foster and Lucy Stone." ****** "Perseverance is a Roman virtue. a crowd of brawny Cape Cod fishermen had made such riotous demonstrations that all the speakers announced.

Foster for the damage his clothes had received when the riot was at its height. backbone.
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a club. but. I'll take care of you. a mute witness to the thorough discipline. the ceaseless
. "yes. second. He might have found safety under sheltering rocks close by. A. backbone. the workmen found the skeleton of a Roman soldier in the sentry-box at one of the city's gates. he had remained at his post. placed her upon a stump and stood guard with his club while she delivered an address so effective that the audience offered no further violence. "When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you." said Harriet Beecher Stowe." Charles Sumner said. and no one shall touch a hair of your head." While digging among the ruins of Pompeii. who had just sprung upon the platform. backbone. third. for that's just the place and time that the tide'll turn.CHAPTER X. at her earnest request. as he looked at the little woman. D. till it seems as if you could not hold on a minute longer." With this he forced a way for her through the crowd. and. "Three things are necessary: first. "Wh--what did you say?" stammered the astonished rowdy. which was buried by the dust and ashes from an eruption of Vesuvius. in the face of certain death. 79. and even took up a collection of twenty dollars to repay Mr. "never give up then.

They gained the gate. and gusty winds. who dies. but his stern features were composed even in their awe! He remained erect and motionless at his post.CHAPTER X. and streams of boiling water. There he stood amidst the crashing elements. "Clear grit" always commands respect. if need be. In the strife of parties and principles. patiently. who calmly. and everybody admires achievement. the fugitives hurried on.
. at his post. They passed by the Roman sentry. describing the flight of a party amid the dust. and ashes. continues: "The air was now still for a few minutes. and courageously grapples with his fate. Bulwer. That hour itself had not animated the machine of the ruthless majesty of Rome into the reasoning and self-acting man." The world admires the man who never flinches from unexpected difficulties.
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vigilance and fidelity which made the Roman legionaries masters of the known world." You cannot. It is that quality which achieves. The lightning flashed over his livid face and polished helmet. "A politician weakly and amiably in the right is no match for a politician tenaciously and pugnaciously in the wrong. backbone without brains will carry against brains without backbone. and lurid lightnings. the lamp from the gate streamed out far and clear. he had not received the permission to desert his station and escape. and huge hurtling fragments of scoria.

After many misgivings. The "London Times" was an insignificant sheet published by Mr. but among the missing. the father finally consented. begged his father to give him full control of the paper. and the government advertisements were withdrawn. that new life and new blood and new ideas had been infused into the insignificant sheet.. and had no individuality or character of its own. then only twenty-seven years old. and independence. when he thought it corrupt. But no remonstrance could swerve him from his purpose. Thereupon the public customs. Walter and was steadily losing money. The public soon saw that a new power stood behind the "Times". The father was in utter dismay. at the close of any battle for principles. The paper had not attempted to mould public opinion. printing. John Walter. his name will be found neither among the dead nor among the wounded.CHAPTER X. that its articles meant business. The son he was sure would ruin the paper and himself. The young journalist began to remodel the establishment and to introduce new ideas everywhere. character. make him the representative of that opinion. Jr. The audacious young editor boldly attacked every wrong. that a man with brains and push and
. to give the world a great journal which should have weight.
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by tying an opinion to a man's tongue. individuality. even the government.

push.
. Enterprise. that the first steam printed paper was given to the world. and his personality pervaded every detail. At enormous expense he employed special couriers. throwing off 17.000 copies. per hour. But nothing could daunt this resolute young spirit. The "leading article" also was introduced to stay. In those days only three hundred copies of the "Times" could be struck off in an hour by the best presses. Then he set his brain to work. 1814. and his foreign dispatches were all stopped at the outpost. Every obstacle put in his way. But the aggressive editor antagonized the government. and finally the Walter Press. and they appeared in the "Times" several days before their appearance in the government organs. He shrank from no undertaking. and neglected no detail. and Walter had duplicate and even triplicate types set. both sides printed. while those of the ministerial journalists were allowed to proceed.--a man who could make a way when he could not find one. Among other new features foreign dispatches were introduced. only added to his determination to succeed. was the result. Walter's tenacity of purpose was remarkable. Walter was the soul of the paper." and nothing could stay its progress.
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tenacity of purpose stood at the helm. It was the 29th of November. grit were behind the "Times.CHAPTER X. and all opposition from the government.

character. has the right of way. meanness and baseness slink out of sight. or in the barn with the horse and cows for an audience. and many a base thought has been unuttered. being asked by an anxious visitor what he would do after three or four years if the rebellion was not subdued. and scarcely dared recite before his class at school. there is no alternative but to keep pegging away." "It is in me and it shall come out. pure grit. He became known as one of the foremost orators of his day. Lincoln. many a sneaking vote withheld. replied: "Oh. Mean men are uncomfortable. but he determined to become an orator. hypocrisy is uncertain." As a rule. dishonesty trembles. as he had failed in his first speech in Parliament. when told that he would never make an orator. In the presence of men permeated with grit and sound in character. So he committed speeches and recited them in the cornfields. Look at Garrison reading this advertisement in a Southern paper: "Five thousand dollars will be paid for the head of
.CHAPTER X. through the fear inspired by the rebuking presence of one noble man." said Sheridan. When a boy Henry Clay was very bashful and diffident.
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"Mean natures always feel a sort of terror before great natures.

in Boston: "I am in earnest." Was Garrison heard? Ask a race set free largely by his efforts." Behold him again. He held the ear of an unwilling world with that burning word "freedom. by which he thought he could raise about twelve shillings. But Kitto did not find them there. If impossibilities ever exist. I will not excuse. He told him that he would sell his books and pawn his handkerchief. Garrison by the Governor of Georgia. Kitto begged his father to take him out of the poorhouse. even if he had to subsist like the Hottentots. and was willing to sleep on a hayrick. He is hurried to jail. beginning at the point at which he was interrupted. Note this heading in the "Liberator. He said he could live upon blackberries.
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W. See him return calmly and unflinchingly to his work." the type of which he set himself in an attic on State Street. In the presence of his decision and imperial energy they melted away. nuts. I will not retreat a single inch. and I will be heard. a broadcloth mob is leading him through the streets of Boston by a rope. Even the gallows erected in front of his own door did not daunt him. popularly speaking. they ought to have been found somewhere between the birth and the death of Kitto. that deaf pauper and master of Oriental learning.CHAPTER X. and field turnips. I will not equivocate. What were impossibilities to such a resolute will? Patrick Henry
. Here was real grit." which was destined never to cease its vibrations until it had breathed its sweet secret to the last slave. L.

or peace so sweet. Lord Erskine was a plucky man.
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voiced that decision which characterized the great men of the Revolution when he said." and often displayed great determination. Almighty God! I know not what course others may take. he felt fluttered. solid quality. the very tissues of the constitution. give me liberty or give me death!" Grit is a permanent. he was self-centred. Many of our generals in the late war exhibited heroism. "Is life so dear. but pure "grit" is a part of the very character of strong men alone. may be "spunky" upon occasion. as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it. but when he entered the House of Commons. and when he was with weaker men. a wavering. but as for me. the imperiousness. and uneasy. the audacious scorn.CHAPTER X. A weak man. which enters into the very structure. weak. They were "plucky. In Pitt's commanding presence he lost his equilibrium. He could not be moved from his base. but Grant had pure "grit" in the most concentrated form. irresolute man. he even had flashes of heroism. although a hero at the bar. he may be "plucky" in an emergency. he was thought to have nerve and even grit. "If you try to wheedle out
. immovable. His individuality seemed off its centre. and the intellectual supremacy of Pitt disturbed his equanimity and exposed the weak places in his armor.

if you praise him as the greatest general living. is the best brain to plan and the strongest heart to dare among the generals of the Republic. when his methods were criticised by his own party. the great President sat with crossed legs. he blandly lights another cigar. when no epithet seemed too harsh to heap upon him.CHAPTER X. he placidly returns the puff from his regalia.
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of him his plans for a campaign. and delegations were waiting upon him to ask for that general's removal. if you call him an imbecile and a blunderer. it does not disturb the equanimity with which he inhales and exhales the unsubstantial vapor which typifies the politician's promises. and behind the face discharged of all tell-tale expression. but his bravery was not his normal condition and depended upon his genius being aroused." When the illustrated papers everywhere were caricaturing him. He had "pluck" and "spunk" on occasions. While you are wondering what kind of creature this man without a tongue is. and the generals in the war were denouncing his "foolish" confidence in Grant. you are suddenly electrified with the news of some splendid victory. proving that behind the cigar.
. and was reminded of a story. and if you tell him he should run for the presidency." Demosthenes was a man who could rise to sublime heights of heroism. he stolidly smokes. but Lincoln had pure "grit.

yielding disposition. It inspires a sublime audacity and a heroic courage. The man of grit carries in his very presence a power which controls and commands. is not swerved by public clamor. nothing but death can subdue it. in the knowledge that truth is mighty and the conviction and confidence that it will prevail. Many of the failures of life are due to the want of grit or business nerve. and keep the needle of his purpose pointing to the star of his hope. for his grit speaks in his every act. obliging this man by investing in hopeless speculation.
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Lincoln and Grant both had that rare nerve which cares not for ridicule. and rather than offend a friend. it is a part of his very life. with a leaky ship. through hurricane and tempest. with no resolution or backbone to mark his own course and stick to it. There is a mighty force in truth and in the sublime conviction and supreme self-confidence behind it. indorsing a questionable note. with a crew in mutiny.
. It does not come by fits and starts. and it dies still struggling. it perseveres. in fact. Pure grit is that element of character which enables a man to clutch his aim with an iron grip. can bear abuse and hatred. through sleet and rain. He is spared the necessity of declaring himself. with no ability to say "No" with an emphasis. Through sunshine and storm.CHAPTER X. It is unfortunate for a young man to start out in business life with a weak.

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A little boy was asked how he learned to skate. half dead as he was with fatigue. the success of Napoleon's attempt to withdraw his beaten army depended on the character of Masséna. The messenger found Masséna seated on a heap of rubbish. of all who win great triumphs of any kind. to whom the Emperor dispatched a messenger. by getting up every time I fell down. "he was always successful in war. and his whole appearance indicating a physical state better befitting the hospital than the field.CHAPTER X. required almost an impossibility. "Oh. with appropriate changes." He might have said the same of Washington." he replied. his eyes bloodshot." said Macaulay of Alexander the Great. 'Tell the Emperor that I will hold out for two hours. This order. but Napoleon knew the indomitable tenacity of the man to whom he gave it. "After the defeat at Essling.
.' And he kept his word. But that steadfast soul seemed altogether unaffected by bodily prostration. Whipple tells a story of Masséna which illustrates the masterful purpose that plucks victory out of the jaws of defeat. couched in the form of a request. telling him to keep his position for two hours longer at Aspern. and." "Often defeated in battle. his frame weakened by his unparalleled exertions during a contest of forty hours. he rose painfully and said.

that secures what all so much desire--SUCCESS. and the Austrians were confident it was won. "Never despair. the Austrians considered the day won. Physicians said there was no hope for him. "You may well shake." says Burke. rolled the two wings up on either side. he said. you would shake worse yet if you knew where I am going to take you. and. looking down at his knees which were smiting together. The
. the Old Guard charged down into the weakened centre of the enemy. and mile after mile with the traveler. Napoleon gave the command to charge. and had given way. "but if you do. lesson after lesson with the scholar. and the battle was won for France." It is victory after victory with the soldier. to follow up the French. The French army was inferior in numbers." Once when Marshal Ney was going into battle. blow after blow with the laborer. though the French themselves thought the battle lost.CHAPTER X. picture after picture with the painter. the trumpet's blast being given.
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In the battle of Marengo. cut it in two. work on in despair. The Austrian army extended its wings on the right and on the left. Then. A promising Harvard student was stricken with paralysis of both legs. crop after crop with the farmer.

milked cows for his pint of milk per day. the famous author of "Credo. Professor L. He was competing for the university prize. fighting death inch by inch." is another triumph of grit over environment. and lived on mush and milk for months together. He worked his way through Wesleyan University. He had a hard struggle as a boy. T. but the book was successful.
. Think of the paralytic lad. but competed successfully for the university prize. helpless in bed. the brave student died. carried it on his back to mill. but succeeded in working his way through Amherst College. He persevered in spite of repeated attacks of illness and partial loss of sight. to do which he had to learn Italian and German. and took a three years' post-graduate course at Yale. Townsend.CHAPTER X.
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lad determined to continue his college studies. cooked it himself. He earned corn by working for farmers. living on forty-five cents a week. The examiners heard him at his bedside. and made a valuable contribution to literature. and he was not only graduated from the best college in America. He resolved to make a critical study of Dante. competing for a prize. brought back the meal to his room. and in four years he took his degree. He meant that his life should not be a burden or a failure. What a lesson! Before his book was published or the prize awarded. Orange Judd was a remarkable example of success through grit.

being too poor to buy a dictionary.CHAPTER X. It sustained Lincoln and Garfield on their hard journeys from the log cabin to the White House. Mass. Henry Fawcett put grit in place of eyesight.
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Congressman William W. walking from his home in the village of Dartmouth. Oh. to New Bedford to replenish his store of words and definitions from the town library. It enabled Gideon Lee to go barefoot in the snow. President Chadbourne put grit in place of his lost lung. Prescott also put grit in place of eyesight. and went to Parliament in spite of his deformity.. and became one of America's greatest historians. half starved and thinly clad. the triumphs of this indomitable spirit of the conqueror! This it was that enabled Franklin to dine on a small loaf in the printing-office with a book in his hand. It helped Locke to live on bread and water in a Dutch garret. Thousands of men have put
. and became the greatest Postmaster-General England ever had. Francis Parkman put grit in place of health and eyesight. Lord Cavanagh put grit in the place of arms and legs. actually copied one. Crapo. while working his way through college. and became the greatest historian of America in his line. and worked thirty-five years after his funeral had been planned.

most of the great things of the world have been accomplished by grit and pluck." said Charles J. fairly wringing success from adverse fortune. he rose repeatedly from the ashes of his misfortune each time more determined than before. It was the last three days of the first voyage of Columbus that told. Again and again he was ruined. eyes. It was all in those three days. and yet have achieved marvelous success. but phoenix-like. owing thousands more than he possessed. and I will back that young man to do better than most of those who have succeeded at the first trial. At fifty. legs. All his years of struggle and study would have availed nothing if he had yielded to the mutiny. yet he resolutely resumed business once more. He may go on. But what days! "It is all very well. or he may be satisfied with his first triumph. Indeed. hands. Fox. He will make stepping-stones out of his stumbling-blocks. and paying his notes at the same time.
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grit in place of health.CHAPTER X. ears. and nevertheless has gone on. but show me a young man who has not succeeded at first. You cannot keep a man down who has these qualities. "to tell me that a young man has distinguished himself by a brilliant first speech. and lift himself to success."
. Barnum was a ruined man.

and the boy with no chance swayed the sceptre of England for a quarter of a century.CHAPTER X. he simply says.
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Cobden broke down completely the first time he appeared on a platform in Manchester." The time did come. pushing his way up through the middle classes. You can see that this young man intends to make his way in the world. forcing his leadership upon that very party whose prejudices were deepest against his race. sprung from a hated and persecuted race. "The time will come when you will hear me. He was easily master of all the tortures supplied by the armory of rhetoric. Imagine England's surprise when she awoke to find this insignificant Hebrew actually Chancellor of the Exchequer. without opportunity. See young Disraeli. rebuffed. he could sting Gladstone out of his self-control. he could exhaust the resources of the bitterest invective. and cheaper loaf. Scoffed. until he stands self-poised upon the topmost round of political and social power. One of the most remarkable examples in history is Disraeli. A determined audacity is in his very
. ridiculed. and the chairman apologized for him. he was absolute master of himself and his situation. and which had an utter contempt for self-made men and interlopers. hissed from the House of Commons. up through the upper classes. better. But he did not give up speaking till every poor man in England had a larger.

whose father died in the poor-house. tenacity. the great Prime Minister. and grit. poverty. The boy Thorwaldsen. "Prime Minister of England. nor hardship could suppress. The son returned at the end of the freshman year with extravagant habits and no money. William H. Seward was given a thousand dollars by his father to go to college with. Lord Melbourne. Everybody said he would never make a preacher. for he knew his day would come. He is a gay fop. but he was determined to succeed. failed again and again. this was all he was to have. with the hated Hebrew blood in his veins. and told him he could not stay at home. Handsome. by his indomitable perseverance. and in two years from his humiliating failures he was preaching in Notre Dame to immense congregations. and whose education was so scanty that he had to write his letters over many times before they could be posted. fascinated the world with the genius which neither his discouraging father.
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face." was his audacious reply. as it did. His father refused to give him more.CHAPTER X. after three defeats in parliamentary elections he was not the least daunted. One of the greatest preachers of modern times. Lacordaire. asked him what he wished to be. when this gay young fop was introduced to him. When the youth found the props all taken out from under
.

looks over all proofs. Frank Leslie often refers to the time she lived in her carpetless attic while striving to pay her husband's obligations. he left home moneyless. and we have enough to be comfortable." She earned two hundred thousand dollars by her pen. She proudly writes in her diary.
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him. Louisa M. She has fought her way successfully through nine lawsuits. it is the best possible substitute for it. Garfield said. and approves the make-up of everything before it goes to press. She manages her ten publications entirely herself. that is done. returned to college. studied law. and that he must now sink or swim. and has paid the entire debt. graduated at the head of his class. Mrs. Alcott wrote the conclusion to "An Old-Fashioned Girl" with her left hand in a sling. even the outlawed ones. makes all contracts. At forty. and no voice. one foot up. and became Lincoln's great Secretary of State during the Civil War. "If the power to do hard work is not talent. was elected Governor of New York. which no one dreamed she possessed. It has cost me my health. head aching. signs all checks and money-orders. perhaps. "Twenty years ago I resolved to make the family independent if I could. She has developed great business ability." The triumph of
.CHAPTER X. Debts all paid.

ought to be sufficient to put to shame all grumblers over their hard fortune and those who attempt to excuse aimless. so that courage is a very important element of decision. and he was mortified because. so.CHAPTER X. after many futile attempts. this land of opportunity. could do the work. September 2. he believed." He shut himself in his room. The class was approaching the problem.
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industry and grit over low birth and iron fortune in America. shiftless. Underneath the solution he wrote. In a New England academy a pupil who was engaged to assist the teacher was unable to solve a problem in algebra. "What a fool! am I unable to perform a problem in algebra. after many trials. The fear of ridicule and the dread of humiliation often hinder one from taking decisive steps when it is plainly a duty. he went to a distant town to seek the assistance of a friend who. On his way back he said to himself. at half past eleven o'clock. The teacher returned it unsolved. and finally he won success. he was obliged to take it to the teacher for solution. But. and shall I go back to my class and confess my ignorance? I can solve it and I will. after more than a dozen trials that have
. What could he do? He would not confess to the class that he could not solve it. determined not to sleep until he had mastered the problem. and would not be back for a week. successless men because they have no chance. "Obtained Monday evening. alas! his friend had gone away.

The race is not always to the swift. then rode before the rebellious line and threatened with death the first mutineer that should try to leave. and this is taken into account in the result. Horses are sometimes weighted or hampered in the race. with the support of invalid parents or brothers and sisters. of surroundings. because they get no sympathy and are forever tortured for not doing that against which every fibre of their being
. the battle is not always to the strong. General Jackson's troops. with poverty. of circumstances. the disadvantages of education. So in the race of life the distance alone does not determine the prize." During a winter in the war of 1812. How many young men are weighted down with debt. But the general set the example of living on acorns.
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consumed more than twenty hours of time.CHAPTER X. became mutinous and were going home. of breeding. because nobody encourages them. unprovided for and starving. with the opposition of parents who do not understand them? How many a round boy is hindered in the race by being forced into a square hole? How many are delayed in their course because nobody believes in them. We must take into consideration the hindrances. the weights we have carried. or friends? How many are fettered with ignorance. hampered by inhospitable surroundings. of training.

by "life-sappers. will decide the prizes. by dissipation. through the blindness of ignorance and lack of experience? How many go bungling along from the lack of early discipline and drill in the vocation they have chosen? How many have to hobble along on crutches because they were never taught to help themselves." how many are crippled by disease. the distance we have run. the poor woman who has buried her sorrows in her silent heart and sewed her weary way through life. but to lean upon a father's wealth or a mother's indulgence? How many are weakened for the journey of life by self-indulgence. those who have suffered abuse in silence. and every drop of their blood rebels? How many have to feel their way to the goal. Not the distance we have run. and who have been unrecognized or despised by their fellow-runners. will all be taken into account. but the obstacles we have overcome. who knows our weaknesses and frailties. By daring to attempt them: sloth and folly Shiver and sink at sight of toil
. "The wise and active conquer difficulties. the disadvantages under which we have made the race. the handicaps. the weights we have carried.CHAPTER X. The poor wretch who has plodded along against unknown temptations. by a weak constitution.
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protests. by impaired eyesight or hearing? When the prizes of life shall be awarded by the Supreme Judge. will often receive the greater prize.

smiling yet: Tear me to tatters. yet I'll be Patient in my necessity: Laugh at my scraps of clothes. And make the impossibility they fear.
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and hazard. and shun Me as a fear'd infection: Yet scare-crow like I'll walk. ROBERT HERRICK. as one Neglecting thy derision.CHAPTER X." Tumble me down. and I will sit Upon my ruins.
.

"One ruddy drop of manly blood the surging sea outweighs. TENNYSON. LOWELL. Be noble! and the nobleness that lies In other men.--EMERSON. Eternity alone will reveal to the human race its debt of gratitude to the peerless and immortal name of Washington.
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CHAPTER XI. nor the crops. but the kind of man the country turns out. Hew the block off. Virtue alone out-builds the pyramids: Her monuments shall last when Egypt's fall. Better not be at all Than not be noble.--JAMES A.--POPE.
THE GRANDEST THING IN THE WORLD. GARFIELD. nor the size of cities." The truest test of civilization is not the census.CHAPTER XI.
. sleeping." "Manhood overtops all titles. Will rise in majesty to meet thine own. no. but never dead. YOUNG. and get out the man.

" But this one thing I know.
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Were one so tall to touch the pole. the youth whom you have murdered was my only son. The mind's the measure of the man. "Good name in man or woman Is the immediate jewel of their souls. in thoughts. BAILEY. not in figures on a dial. cannot be sick with my sickness. pleading for concealment from pursuers who sought his life in revenge for the killing of a Moorish gentleman. He concealed his horror. and locked his visitor in a summer-house until night should afford opportunity for his escape. In feelings. acts the best. WATTS. Or grasp creation in his span. He most lives Who thinks most. He must be measured by his soul.--EMERSON. "Christian. not breaths. feels the noblest. and at midnight unlocked the summer-house. that these qualities did not now begin to exist. not years. Not long after the dead body of his son was brought home. A Moor was walking in his garden when a Spanish cavalier suddenly fell at his feet. and from the description given he knew the Spaniard was the murderer. saying. We should count time by heart-throbs. The Moor promised aid. Your crime deserves the
. nor buried in my grave. We live in deeds.CHAPTER XI. however.

and banished the fear and sting of death.
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severest punishment.
. but God is just. saddling one of his fleetest mules. engrave it on every child's heart. Shine on our mortal sight. As Longfellow says:-"Were a star quenched on high. and I disdain to violate a rash engagement even with a cruel enemy." The character of Socrates was mightier than the hemlock. and that I have resigned judgment to Him. Mothers. in every home. in every youth's room.CHAPTER XI. Who can estimate the power of a well-lived life? Character is power. "Flee while the darkness of night conceals you. Your hands are polluted with blood. Hang this motto in every school in the land. For ages would its light. The light he leaves behind him lies Upon the paths of men." [Illustration: John Greenleaf Whittier (missing from book)] Character never dies. For years beyond our ken. Still traveling downward from the sky. But I have solemnly pledged my word not to betray you. and I humbly thank Him that my faith is unspotted. he said. "So when a great man dies." Then.

CHAPTER XI."
. The mighty force of martyrs to truth lives. "No varnish or veneer of scholarship." What could be more eloquent? Character needs no recommendation. "the sword with which you have fought so many battles and slain so many infidels. was unveiled. the candle burns more brilliantly than before it was snuffed. "Show me." but your character can. that he said. Napoleon was so much impressed with the courage and resources of Marshal Ney. That is my speech. "That is my speech. erected in one of the thoroughfares of London. Twice he touched the statue with his hand." said Omar the Caliph to Amru the warrior. can ever make you a positive force in the world. no command of the tricks of logic or rhetoric. "I have two hundred millions in my coffers. and said.
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You cannot destroy one single atom of a Garrison. and I would give them all for Ney. When the statue of George Peabody. It pleads its own cause. the sculptor Story was asked to speak." So one hundred and fifty pounds of flesh and blood without character is of no great value. even though he were hanged." "Ah!" replied Amru. "the sword without the arm of the master is no sharper nor heavier than the sword of Farezdak the poet.

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In Agra. said to be the most beautiful building in the world. sweet faith of the latter streams like sunlight through even the closed windows of the soul. the disciple of the holy men of Christ. his daughter Jahanara chose to share his captivity and poverty rather than the guilty glory of her brother. the humble. the acme of Oriental architecture. The strong. It was planned as a mausoleum for the favorite wife of Shah Jehan. but David of the Psalms we never forget. you will find there not the mere desire of happiness. this grass is the best covering for the tomb of the poor in spirit.CHAPTER XI. the daughter of the Emperor Shah Jehan. Some writer has well said that David of the throne we cannot always recall with pleasure. a mausoleum afterwards erected in her honor. long after the wearied eye has turned with disgust from all the gilded pomp and pride of the former. When the latter was deposed by his son Aurungzebe. but give only passing notice to the beautiful Jamma Masjid. but a craving as natural to us as the desire
. On her tomb in Delhi were cut her dying words: "Let no rich coverlet adorn my grave. India. Robertson says that when you have got to the lowest depths of your heart. the transitory Jahanara." Travelers who visit the magnificent Taj linger long by the grass-green sarcophagus in Delhi. stands the Taj Mahal.

I thought. and that. DEAR FATHER. nor blind me. I wonder the very thought does not kill me! But I shall not
. "that no other father in all this broad laud made so precious a gift. it would be fighting gloriously.--just one little minute. ---. father." "I thought when I gave Bennie to his country. was found asleep at his post while on picket duty last night. Vermont Volunteers.--the craving for nobler. They say that they will not bind me.--For sleeping on sentinel duty I am to be shot.
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for food. it seemed awful to me. and returned with a letter. "It is from him. for Bennie never dozed over a duty. "Private Benjamin Owen." said farmer Owen as he read the above telegram with dimming eyes. when I fell. that it might have been on the battlefield. but that I may meet my death like a man. At first.--at his post. and only eighteen! and now they shoot him because he was found asleep when doing sentinel duty!" Just then Bennie's little sister Blossom answered a tap at the door. He only slept a minute. father. How prompt and trustworthy he was! He was as tall as I." was all she said. but I have thought about it so much now that it has no terror.--to die for neglect of duty! Oh.Regiment. higher life. but to be shot down like a dog for nearly betraying it. The court-martial has sentenced him to be shot in twenty-four hours. as the offense occurred at a critical time.CHAPTER XI. I know that was all. for my country.

you may tell my comrades. I was all tired out when we came into camp. as they must be now. he would have dropped by the way. father. The poor boy is broken-hearted. and does nothing but beg and entreat them to let him die in my stead. but I did not know it until. I could not have kept awake if a gun had been pointed at my head.--"time to write to you." our good colonel says. and when I am gone. Everybody was tired. You know I promised Jemmie Carr's mother I would look after her boy. I can't bear to think of mother and Blossom. when the war is over. when he fell sick. and as for Jemmie. he only does his duty. Comfort them. I did all I could for him. He was not strong when he was ordered back into the ranks. Toward night we went in on double-quick. I am going to write you all about it. if I had not lent him an arm now and then. and the baggage began to feel very heavy.--given to me by circumstances. I cannot now. but I was too tired. They tell me to-day that I have a short reprieve.
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disgrace you. and that. and the day before that night I carried all his baggage. he would gladly save me if he could. and do not lay my death up against Jemmie. and I could take his place.--well. God help me: it is very hard to bear!
.CHAPTER XI. they will not be ashamed of me. father. on our march. and then it was Jemmie's turn to be sentry. besides my own. and. father! Tell them I die as a brave boy should. Forgive him. until it was too late.

I shall see the cows all coming home from pasture." "So my father said. child. child? Come here. "Well. never come! God bless you all! "God be thanked!" said Mr. Lincoln. Thousands of lives might have been lost through his culpable negligence. They are going to shoot him for sleeping at his post. sir. "it was a fatal sleep. "I remember." said the President. waiting for me. and the next she was admitted to the White House at Washington. Owen reverently. To-night. and precious little Blossom standing on the back stoop. "My brother. cheerful tones. and Jemmie so weak. I do not understand. You see. "Bennie? Who is Bennie?" asked Mr.--but I shall never. please. it was a time of special danger. and it was Jemmie's night. and Bennie never thought about himself." "What is that you say.CHAPTER XI. sir. but poor Bennie was so tired. not his. sir. father. in the early twilight. "I knew Bennie was not the boy to sleep carelessly. Next morning she was in New York." faltered Blossom. He did the work of two. Two hours later the conductor of the southward mail lifted her into a car at Mill Depot.
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Good-by. but Jemmie was too tired." said the President in pleasant.
. "what do you want so bright and early this morning?" "Bennie's life. sir. too." He read Bennie's letter to his father." said the little girl. my child.--that he was tired." Late that night a little figure glided out of the house and down the path.

who could approve his country's sentence. and said to the messenger who appeared. with charity for all. that Abraham Lincoln thinks the life far too precious to be lost. wrote a few lines. deserves well of his country." When telegrams poured in announcing terrible carnage upon battlefields in our late war. saying.CHAPTER XI. and die for the act without complaining. my child. Lincoln fastened the strap of a lieutenant upon his shoulder. he shall go with you. and tell that father of yours." Then." said Blossom. or--wait until to-morrow. he never once departed from his famous motto. and when President Lincoln's heart-strings were nearly broken over the cruel treatment of our prisoners at Andersonville. rang his bell. Belle Isle. Mr." When it was reported that among those returned at Baltimore from Southern prisons. Bennie will need a change after he has so bravely faced death. "The soldier that could carry a sick comrade's baggage. Go back. turning to Blossom. not one in ten could stand alone from hunger and neglect. when the young soldier came with his sister to thank the President." "God bless you. "With malice toward none. and Libby Prison. "Send this dispatch at once. he continued: "Go home. Not all the queens are crowned. and many were so eaten and covered by vermin as to resemble those pitted by
. even when it took the life of a child like that. Two days later.
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which Blossom held out. sir.

Among the slain on the battlefield at Fredericksburg was the body of a youth upon which was found next the heart a photograph of Lincoln.
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smallpox. not even these reports could move the great President to retaliate in kind upon the Southern prisoners. of Salisbury. while Lincoln seemed strong in every way. There seemed to be hidden springs of greatness in this man that would gush forth in the most unexpected way. each in one way. Webster. "The promise must now be kept.CHAPTER XI." Bishop Hamilton. I shall never recall one word. After Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation he said. "I was a
. and so emaciated that they were living skeletons. exercised upon him. Upon the back of it were these words: "God bless President Lincoln. Clay. bears the following testimony to the influence for good which Gladstone. when a school-fellow at Eton. Horace Greeley was almost as many-sided. but Lincoln was great in many ways. but had been pardoned by the President. The men about him were at a loss to name the order of his genius. but was a wonderful combination of goodness and weakness. and others were great. Calhoun. David Dudley Field said he considered Lincoln the greatest man of his day." The youth had been sentenced to death for sleeping at his post.

who had lived for six years in a cave of the Thebaid. spending his whole life in trying to make himself of some account with God. now if I can take but the smallest bit from one heap and add it to the other.
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thoroughly idle boy. and performing severe penances. The same night an angel came to him and said. praying." The Rev." At Oxford we are told the effect of his example was so strong that men who followed him there ten years later declare "that undergraduates drank less in the forties because Gladstone had been so courageously abstemious in the thirties. I feel I have done something." A holy hermit. strive to imitate a certain minstrel who goes begging and singing from door to door. if as I go home a child has dropped a half-penny.CHAPTER XI. in order that he might pattern after him to reach still greater heights of holiness. prayed to be shown some saint greater than himself. I carry a point." The hermit. "I see in this world two heaps of human happiness and misery. that he might be sure of a seat in Paradise. but I was saved from worse things by getting to know Gladstone. "If thou wouldst excel all others in virtue and sanctity. The minstrel hung down his head and replied. and by giving it another I can wipe away its tears. fasting. sought the minstrel and asked him how he had managed to make himself so acceptable to God. much chagrined. John Newton said. "Do not
.

distracted. I know of nothing good that I have done.CHAPTER XI. not so. for there has been no money
." replied the minstrel. and procured food for himself and companion and their horses. but the woman was ashamed to take pay for a mere act of kindness. so as to look at it now and then. "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. He pressed the money upon her." A gentleman. I have performed no good works. He wanted to make payment. and said in all his life he had not done as much as the poor minstrel. "If you don't think I'm mean. for she was very beautiful. and loving favor than silver or gold." The hermit insisted that he must have done some good deeds. "I met a poor woman running hither and thither. I took her home and protected her from certain sons of Belial.
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mock me. The minstrel replied. I gave her all I possessed to redeem her family and returned her to her husband and children. because her husband and children had been sold into slavery to pay a debt. I'll take one quarter of a dollar from you. holy father. I only go from door to door to amuse people with my viol and my flute. "Nay. traveling through West Virginia. Finally she said. and I am not worthy to pray. went to a house. Is there any man who would not have done the same?" The hermit shed tears." "But how hast thou become a beggar? Hast thou spent thy substance in riotous living?" "Nay.

But have these rivers therefore no influence? Ask the rich harvest fields if they feel the flowing water beneath. that travels at an inconceivable speed. and the whole system in harmony.CHAPTER XI. The real height of the Washington Monument is not measured between the capstone and the earth. is ten thousand times ten thousand times more powerful. The greatest worth is never measured. so it is when it rends the gnarled oak into splinters. Many of the most successful lives are like the rivers of India which run under ground. or splits solid battlements into fragments. It is only the nearest stars whose distances we compute. which makes no noise. strikes and yet is not felt.
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in this house for a year. All the forces in nature that are the most powerful are the quietest. We speak of the rolling thunder as powerful. unseen and unheard by the millions who tread above them. but it is not half so powerful as the gentle light that comes so softly from the skies that we do not feel it. but exercises an influence so great that the earth is
. but includes the fifty feet of solid masonry below. yet keeps orbs in their orbits." Do not take the world's estimate of success. but gravitation. That life whose influence can be measured by the world's tape-line of dollars and corn is not worth the measuring. binding every atom in each planet to the great centre of all attraction. We say the bright lightning is mighty.

The things that make no noise. and to die in his stead if he did not come back in time. At the very last hour Pythias appeared and announced himself ready to die. asked that he might go to his native Greece. make no pretension. but accepted the proposition. Pythias had not reached Syracuse. offered to become surety for him. and asked to be allowed to make a third partner in such a noble friendship. a friend of the doomed man.CHAPTER XI. condemned to death through the hasty anger of Dionysius of Syracuse. At this juncture.
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clothed with verdure through its influence. But such touching loyalty moved even the iron heart of Dionysius. The most conclusive logic that a preacher uses in the pulpit will never exercise the influence that the consistent piety of character will exercise over all the earth. may be really the strongest. Damon. Dionysius was surprised. promising to return before the time appointed for his execution. accordingly he ordered both to be spared. and all nature beautified and blessed by its ceaseless action. The old Sicilian story relates how Pythias. but Damon remained firm in his faith that his friend would not fail him. saying that when he was once safe out of Sicily no one would answer for his reappearance. The tyrant laughed his request to scorn.
. When the fatal day came. It is a grander thing to be nobly remembered than to be nobly born. and arrange his affairs.

--actually done. and led him before their chief.CHAPTER XI. "Governor." When General Lee was in conversation with one of his officers in regard to a movement of his army. "to know if this boy tells the truth. flushed with conquest. A single magistrate followed him.--the thing of which we were not even dreaming. Pope Leo alone of all the people dared go forth and try to turn his wrath aside." said the governor. The boy telegraphed this fact to Governor Curtin. A special engine was sent for the boy.
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When Attila. it "doubled the strength of the army." A corporal replied. appeared with his barbarian horde before the gates of Rome in 452. a plain farmer's boy overheard the general's remark that he had decided to march upon Gettysburg instead of Harrisburg. I know that boy. there is not a drop of false blood
. whose respect was so great that he agreed not to enter the city. "I would give my right hand. it is impossible for him to lie. where we see the thing done before us. It was said that when Washington led the American forces as commanding officer. Blackie thinks there is no kind of a sermon so effective as the example of a great man. provided a tribute should be paid to him. The Huns were awed by the fearless majesty of the unarmed old man.

"Your lordships. to be dead in earnest. I never knew a man in whose truth and justice I had greater confidence.CHAPTER XI. Character is power. and I had long the honor to enjoy his private friendship. Original and unaccommodating. that he conspired to remove him. or in whom I saw a more invariable desire to promote the public service. and I never saw in the whole course of my life the smallest reason for suspecting that he stated anything which he did not firmly believe to be the fact. The great thing is to be a man. I was long connected with him in public life. "must all feel the high and honorable character of the late Sir Robert Peel. We were both in the councils of our sovereign together." "The Secretary stood alone. His august mind overawed majesty. I never knew an instance in which he did not show the strongest attachment to truth. to yearn for the good and the true.
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in his veins." In fifteen minutes the Union troops were marching to Gettysburg. to have a high purpose. a noble aim. where they gained a victory. the features of his character had the hardihood of antiquity. and one of his sovereigns thought royalty so impaired in his presence. "Modern degeneracy had not reached him." said Grattan of the elder Pitt." said Wellington in Parliament. In the whole course of my communication with him. in order to
. In all the course of my acquaintance with him.

When a subsidy was voted a foreign office. a spirit. and impracticable. and strike a blow in the world that would resound through the universe. astonished a corrupt age. that she had found defects in this statesman. No state chicanery.
. there was in this man something that could create. and much of the ruin of his victories. for honorarium. but the history of his country and the calamities of the enemy answered and refuted her." Pitt was Paymaster-General for George II. his object was England. persuasive. and an eloquence to summon mankind to united exertion. an understanding. and further astonished him by refusing a present as a compliment to his integrity.
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be relieved from his superiority. or to break the bonds of slavery asunder. overbearing. but. He was a poor man.CHAPTER XI. fame. and to rule the wilderness of free minds with unbounded authority. A character so exalted. or reform. so authoritative. so various. Upon the whole. Pitt astonished the King of Sardinia by sending him the sum without any deduction. and talked much of the inconsistency of his policy. sunk him to the level of the vulgar great. and the Treasury trembled at the name of Pitt through all the classes of venality. subvert. so unsullied. Corruption imagined. something that could establish or overwhelm an empire. his ambition. no narrow system of vicious politics. it was customary for the office to claim one half per cent. indeed.

Merchants on both sides of the Atlantic procured large advances from him.
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Washington would take no pay as commander-in-chief of the Continental armies. and these. Edward Everett said. would be discharged. In those dark days his integrity stood four-square in every business panic. He would keep a strict account of his expenses. of the United States. there came a commercial crisis in the United States. Remember.CHAPTER XI." Probably not a half dozen men in Europe would have been listened to for a moment in the Bank of England upon the subject of American securities. but to become. and thousands more were in great distress. after George Peabody moved to London. Peabody retrieved the credit of the State of Maryland. His character was the magic wand which in many a case changed almost worthless paper into gold. In 1837. His name was already a tower of strength in the commercial world. Many banks suspended specie payments. the main business of life is not to do. it might almost be said. Many mercantile houses went to the wall. as far as the United States were concerned. he doubted not. even before the goods
. an action itself has its finest and most enduring fruit in character. was for the time paralyzed. "The great sympathetic nerve of the commercial world. credit. but George Peabody was one of them. and.

"Nature has written a letter of credit upon some men's faces which is honored wherever presented. Themistocles.
. With most people. You cannot help trusting such men. as with most nations. and he therefore desired that they would appoint a person to whom he might explain himself on the subject. There is a 'promise to pay' in their very faces which gives confidence. Accordingly in an assembly of the people one day." Character is credit. he intimated that he had a very important design to propose. As good as gold has become a proverb--as though it were the highest standard of comparison. and you prefer it to another man's indorsement. their very presence gives confidence. but he could not communicate it to the public at large. he thought anything which could tend to the accomplishment of the end he had in view just and lawful. kept his thoughts continually fixed on this great project.CHAPTER XI. Being at no time very nice or scrupulous in the choice of his measures.
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consigned to him had been sold. "things are worth what they will sell for. Thackeray says. having conceived the design of transferring the government of Greece from the hands of the Lacedaemonians into those of the Athenians. because the greatest secrecy was necessary to its success." and the dollar is mightier than the sword.

Themistocles. taking him aside. upon the unjust suspicion that his influence with the people was dangerous to their freedom. and declared to them that nothing could be more advantageous to the commonwealth than the project of Themistocles. nothing in the world could be more unfair. and a stranger who stood near. which then lay in a neighboring port. Aristides himself was present in the midst of them. Themistocles should wholly abandon his project. but that. "that he cared not more to be just than to appear so. The assembly unanimously declared that. and envy prevailed so far as to procure his banishment for years. Aristides returned to the assembly. by universal consent.--a title.
. and could not write. of all the Greeks.
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Aristides was unanimously selected by the assembly. This remarkable distinction roused envy. which deferred entirely to his opinion. in which it was said of one of the characters. A tragedy by Aeschylus was once represented before the Athenians. Ever after he received. at the same time. when Athens would assuredly become mistress of all Greece.CHAPTER XI. or rather truly divine. says Plutarch. most merited that distinguished reputation. since such was the case. truly royal. the surname of the Just." At these words all eyes were instantly turned upon Aristides as the man who. told him that the design he had conceived was to burn the fleet belonging to the rest of the Grecian states. When the sentence was passed by his countrymen.

and had the absolute disposal of its treasures. He had two daughters.
. "or has he in any way injured you?" "Neither. The absence of Aristides soon dissipated the apprehensions which his countrymen had so idly indulged. and to whom portions were allotted from the public treasury." replied the stranger. without showing the least resentment against his enemies. or seeking any other gratification than that of serving his countrymen with fidelity and honor. who were educated at the expense of the state. He was in a short time recalled. and wrote his name on it as desired." Aristides inquired no further. "but it is for this very thing I would he were condemned.CHAPTER XI. that notwithstanding he had possessed the highest employments in the republic. The virtues of Aristides did not pass without reward. but took the shell.
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applied to him to write for him on his shell-ballot. I can go nowhere but I hear of Aristides the Just. "Aristides. then?" said Aristides." said the other. "Do you know him. and for many years after took a leading part in the affairs of the republic. yet he died so poor as not to leave money enough to defray the expenses of his funeral. of the justice and integrity of Aristides is. The strongest proof. "What name?" asked the philosopher. however.

during the wars of the Fronde. a reaching-up principle. How often we see in school or college young men. Fisher Ames. for I am sure if I vote with him. said of Roger Sherman.CHAPTER XI. who are apparently dull and even stupid. that his personal character was equivalent to a constitution.
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Men of character are the conscience of the society to which they belong. gravitates downward. which gradually but surely unfolds.
. There are men. it was said that his high reputation for integrity was a better protection for him than a regiment of horse would have been. I shall vote right. guarantee the execution of the laws. when I return I always look at Roger Sherman. and consequently know not on which side to vote. he being the only man among the French gentry who. while mere genius. Their influence is the bulwark of good government. Of Montaigne. while in Congress. and not the police. they." Character gravitates upward. as with a celestial gravitation. It was said of the first Emperor Alexander of Russia. fortunately for the world. without character. of Connecticut: "If I am absent during a discussion of a subject. merely because the former have an upward tendency in their lives. who would rather be right than be President. rise gradually and surely above others who are without character. kept his castle gates unbarred.

No matter whether we heed it or not. never intruding. that "the ten commandments were stamped upon his forehead. was a man of whom Sydney Smith said." Francis Horner. through disease. How was this attained? By rank? He was the son of an Edinburgh merchant. No greater homage was ever paid in Parliament to any deceased member. through prosperity and adversity. pronouncing the verdict "right" or "wrong. but it always says "yes" to right actions and "no" to wrong ones. possessed of greater influence than any other private man. and admired.
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and elevates them to positions of honor and trust.CHAPTER XI. There is something which everybody admires in an aspiring soul. but weighing every act we perform. one whose tendency is upward and onward. no power can change its decision one iota. of England. this faithful servant stands behind us in the shadow of ourselves." The valuable and peculiar light in which Horner's history is calculated to inspire every right-minded youth is this: he died at the age of thirty-eight. Through health. every word we utter. By wealth? Neither he nor any of his relatives ever had a superfluous sixpence. in spite of hindrances and in defiance of obstacles. beloved. and deplored by all except the heartless and the base. trusted. We may try to stifle the voice of the mysterious angel within. By office? He held but
.

and found the same indifference. By talents? His were not splendid. But no one surpassed him in the combination of an adequate portion of these with moral worth.
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one. and he had no genius. may achieve. but formed. of no influence. Cautious and slow. "several cafés. I entered. "where a public crier called. and that for only a few years." he adds. industry. By eloquence? He spoke in calm. 'Here's your account of the death of Bonaparte." says a French writer.CHAPTER XI. unaided by anything whatever except culture and goodness. out of no peculiarly fine elements. then? Merely by sense. By what was it. This
. There were many in the House of Commons of far greater ability and eloquence.--coldness everywhere. I passed the Palais Royal. by himself. good taste. even when these powers are displayed amidst the competition and jealousies of public life. good principles and a good heart. and this character was not impressed on him by nature. By any fascination of manner? His was only correct and agreeable. his only ambition was to be right. "When it was reported in Paris that the great Napoleon was dead.' This cry which once would have appalled all Europe fell perfectly flat. Horner was born to show what moderate powers. It was the force of his character that raised him. qualities which no well constituted mind need ever despair of attaining. no one seemed interested or troubled. and with very little pay. without any of the oratory that either terrifies or seduces.

And what was the result of this vast talent and power.
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man. A hundred years hence what difference will it make whether you were rich or poor. Johnson's mediation. under the most favorable conditions. feebler than he found her. of these immense armies. the eternal law of man and of the world. Never elsewhere was such a leader so endowed. of this demoralized Europe? He left France smaller. His was an experiment. poorer. He had impressed the world with his marvelousness. for sixty pounds. a peer or a peasant? But what difference may it not make whether you did what was right or what was wrong? "The 'Vicar of Wakefield. had inspired neither the love nor the admiration of even his own countrymen. "was sold. and had inspired astonishment but not love.CHAPTER XI. It was the nature of things. who had conquered Europe and awed the world.
. and so weaponed. and the result. in a million attempts of this kind. burned cities. immolated millions of men. squandered treasures. to test the powers of intellect without conscience. through Dr. which balked and ruined him. will be the same.'" said George William Curtis. never has another leader found such aids and followers." Emerson says that Napoleon did all that in him lay to live and thrive without moral principle.

CHAPTER XI. position.
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and ten years after. if a man were to consider that it mattered not whether he did a great thing or some one else
. smiled at him contemptuously from his gilded carriage. gathered around his bed. all the torments of wounded self-love. applause of men--are such as inevitably breed and foster many bad passions in the eager competition to attain them.--the commonly enumerated moral causes of insanity. Goldsmith struggled cheerfully with his adverse fate.. whom he had only dared to admire at a distance. Maudsley tells us that the aims which chiefly predominate--riches. the coxcomb of literature." Dr. They are griefs of a kind to which a rightly developed nature should not fall a prey. come disappointed ambition. Hence. jealousy. in fact. D. and a thousand other mental sufferings. and a lady of distinction. M. power. whom adversity could not bring down from the level of his lofty nature. and Oliver Goldsmith. the author died. There need be no envy nor jealousy. But then sad mourners. often wanted a dinner! Horace Walpole. I look on him as a successful man. When I see Goldsmith. and died. grief from loss of fortune. whom he had aided in their affliction. came and cut a lock of his hair for remembrance. yet the five thousandth copy was never announced. thus carrying his heart in his hand like a palm branch. With what love do we hang over its pages! What springs of feeling it has opened! Goldsmith's books are influences and friends forever.

I thought I would put it to this issue: At night. "Well. no wounded self-love. on which I supped heartily. Being very busy. Now. why should I prostitute my press to personal hatred or party passion for a more luxurious living?" One cannot read this anecdote of our American sage without thinking of Socrates' reply to King Archelaus. he begged the gentleman would leave it for consideration. and come and live with him in his splendid courts:
. if he were to estimate at its true value that which fortune can bring him.
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did it. wrapping myself in my great coat. no grief from loss of fortune. sir. when my work was done." replied Franklin. when another loaf and mug of water afforded a pleasant breakfast. But being at a loss on account of my poverty whether to reject it or not. since I can live very comfortably in this manner.CHAPTER XI. "I am sorry to say I think it highly scurrilous and defamatory. The next day the author called and asked his opinion of it. if he had learned well the eternal lesson of life. who had pressed him to give up preaching in the dirty streets of Athens.--self-renunciation. I bought a two-penny loaf. and then. Nature's only concern being that it should be done. sir. and that which fortune can never bring him. Soon after his establishment in Philadelphia Franklin was offered a piece for publication in his newspaper. slept very soundly on the floor till morning.

The king said. and the king would have kept the treasure. "Does the sun shine on your country. and said. While he was interviewing the chief two of his subjects brought a case before him for judgment.CHAPTER XI. after the purchase. let them be married and the treasure given to them as a dowry. "Certainly." Alexander was surprised." A good character is a precious thing." was the reply. is a half-penny a peck at Athens. was found to contain a treasure. "Then it is for these innocent cattle that the Great Being permits the rain to fall and the grass to grow. The dispute was this: the one had bought of the other a piece of ground.
. stating that when he sold the ground he sold it with all the advantages apparent or concealed which it might be found to afford. or kingdoms. please your Majesty. and the grass grow?" Alexander replied. crowns. "One of you has a daughter and the other a son. and water I get for nothing!" During Alexander's march into Africa he found a people dwelling in peace. The chief replied. which. gold. and the rain fall." The chief then asked. The other refused to receive anything. "Are there any cattle?" "Certainly.
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"Meal." The chief said. who knew neither war nor conquest. for which he felt bound to pay. and the work of making it is the noblest labor on earth. "If this case had been in our country it would have been dismissed. above rubies.

power is not needful. "Gentlemen." said Père Arrius. but your king is not rich enough to buy me. the British Commissioners offered him a bribe of ten thousand guineas to desert the cause of his country.CHAPTER XI." It has been said that "when poverty is your inheritance. physicians their sick. we certainly must be damned. and tavern-keepers their bars. the strength of that proud heretic lay in--riches? No. and if we are not saved in this sense. But nothing could move him from his course. Honors? No. heard of the death of Calvin he exclaimed with a sigh." "When Le Père Bourdaloue preached at Rouen. liberty is not needful. but character alone is that which can truly save us. even health is not the one thing needful. Queen of Scotland." During the American Revolution. "the tradesmen forsook their shops." "I fear John Knox's prayers more than an army of ten thousand men. I am poor. Holy Virgin! With two such
. When Pope Paul IV. very poor. lawyers their clients. "Ah.
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Professor Blackie of the University of Edinburgh said to a class of young men: "Money is not needful.--every man minded his own business. but when I preached the following year I set all things to rights. while General Reed was President of Congress." said Mary. His reply was. virtue must be your capital.

our church would soon be mistress of both worlds. What power of magic lies in a great name! There was not a throne in Europe that could stand against Washington's character. Grant.
. In Rome he called for forty volunteers to go where half of them would be sure to be killed and the others probably wounded. and they had to draw lots.To live in hearts we leave behind Is not to die. and in comparison with it the millions of the Croesuses would look ridiculous. Soldiers and officers were ready to die for him. so eager were all to obey.And is he dead. when announcing the death of Princess Alice. a touching story of sick-room ministration.
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servants. The whole battalion rushed forward." Garibaldi's power over his men amounted to fascination. or Garfield? A few names have ever been the leaven which has preserved many a nation from premature decay." Mr. whose glorious mind Lifts thine on high?-. His will power seemed to enslave them.CHAPTER XI. What are the works of avarice compared with the names of Lincoln. Gladstone gave in Parliament. "But strew his ashes to the wind Whose sword or voice has served mankind-. The Princess' little boy was ill with diphtheria.

and whispered. The two foremost names in modern philanthropy are those of John Howard and Florence Nightingale. Florence Nightingale. and after that it was as holy as a church.CHAPTER XI." the mother's instinct was stronger than the physician's caution. mamma. in the fourth century. Since her time the hospital
. the boy threw his arms around her neck. At a large dinner-party given by Lord Stratford after the Crimean War. is that of a young woman just recovering from a serious illness. when that carnival of pestilence and blood is suggested. The mother took the little one in her lap and stroked his fevered brow. she pressed her lips to the child's. The one name that rises instantly. it was proposed that every one should write on a slip of paper the name which appeared most likely to descend to posterity with renown. "Kiss me.
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the physician had cautioned her not to inhale the poisoned breath. but lost her life. "Before she came there was such cussin' and swearin'. the child was tossing in the delirium of fever." She robbed war of half its terrors. When the papers were opened every one of them contained the name of Florence Nightingale. A soldier said. Leckey says that the first hospital ever established was opened by that noble Christian woman. Fabiola. Not a general of the Crimean War on either side can be named by one person in ten.

and love itself can have no permanence."
. cholera.--wherever those consecrated workers seek to alleviate the condition of those who suffer from plagues. the age which opens to woman the privilege of following her benevolent inspirations wheresoever she will. astonished at our own desolation. and the red to the blood of the Redeemer. And of all heroes. Miss Brittain. without feeling that the heroic age of our race has just begun. what nobler ones than these. I suppose. whose names shine from the pages of our missionary history? I never read of Mrs. Mrs. I woke and found that life is duty. goodness. intellect. No soldier was braver and no patriot truer than Clara Barton. there this tireless angel moves on her pathway of blessing. and wherever that noble company of Protestant women known as the Red Cross Society. but all the fabric of existence crumbles away from under us and leaves us at last sitting in the midst of a ruin. abiding sense of duty is the last reason of culture." A constant. "I slept and dreamed that life is beauty. pointing to Calvary. Miss West. Judson. flood. without thinking that our Christianity needs no other evidence. Snow. truth.CHAPTER XI.
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systems of all the nations during war have been changed.--the cross. famine. fevers. "Duty is the cement without which all power. happiness.

that poisons their blood. has their growth been stunted by it. if you have gained your money by that which has debauched other lives. that shortens the lives of others. are others' hope and happiness buried in it.
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We have no more right to refuse to perform a duty than to refuse to pay a debt. If your wealth has made others poorer. your life is a failure. If your money is not clean. on your bank account. you have not succeeded. have others a
. others' chances strangled by it. If there is the blood of the poor and unfortunate. if there is a dirty dollar in your millions. Moral insolvency is certain to him who neglects and disregards his duty to his fellow-men. it increases it. you have failed. Remember that a question will be asked you some time which you cannot evade. the right answer to which will fix your destiny forever: "How did you get that fortune?" Are other men's lives in it. you have not succeeded. or engenders disease. are others' rights buried in it. Nor can we hire another to perform our duty. are others' opportunities smothered in it. of orphans and widows. Nay. if you have taken a day from a human life. their characters stained by it.CHAPTER XI. If you have gained it in an occupation that kills. are others' comforts sacrificed to it. for it enables you to do a larger and nobler duty. The mere accident of having money does not release you from your duty to the world.

friends came forward and offered to raise money enough to allow him to arrange with his creditors." "The Tales of a Grandfather." said he proudly. a meaner home? If so. "I have been. to corrupt no man's principles."
. all written in the midst of great sorrow. and dark path. "thou hast been weighed in the balance and found wanting. all your millions cannot save you from the curse. "No.CHAPTER XI." When Walter Scott's publisher and printer failed and $600. and that I have written nothing which. I see before me a long. of integrity in this noble man. "as I now can under the comfortable impression of receiving the thanks of my creditors.000 of debt stared them in the face." One of the last things he uttered was. pain.
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smaller loaf." articles for the "Quarterly. and ruin." and so on. if we lose everything else. I shall die with honor. "I could not have slept soundly. working like a dray-horse to cancel that great debt." he writes. the most voluminous author of my day. on my deathbed. you have failed. "this right hand shall work it all off. as is very likely." "Woodstock. and the conscious feeling of discharging my duty as a man of honesty. we will at least keep our honor unblemished. perhaps. tedious. but it leads to stainless reputation. and it is a comfort to me to think that I have tried to unsettle no man's faith. throwing off at white heat the "Life of Napoleon. I would wish blotted out." What a grand picture of manliness. If I die in the harness.

"What a fool he is!" Yet this is the way many men are building their characters for eternity. eternal in the heavens. Such builders will never dwell in "the house of God. without plan or aim.CHAPTER XI. and earned a name never to be erased from the book of fame. "What are you building?" and he should answer. and all the bystanders exclaim. "I don't exactly know. Beecher says that we are all building a soul-house for eternity. and left even more money to Harvard University ($300. not made with hands. while the man looks idly on.000) than he would have left if he had taken the time to lecture for money. yet he left a greater legacy to the world.
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Although Agassiz refused to lecture even for a large sum of money."
. and should say to him. Faraday had to choose between a fortune of nearly a million and a life of almost certain poverty if he pursued science. He chose poverty and science. and room is added to room. yet with what differing architecture and what various care! What if a man should see his neighbor getting workmen and building materials together. and thoughtlessly waiting to see what the effect will be. adding room to room." And so walls are reared. I am waiting to see what will come of it.

and the rooms are filled with material things. there are apartments in their souls which were once tenanted by taste.
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Some people build as cathedrals are built. and worship. Many men are mere warehouses full of merchandise--the head and heart are stuffed with goods.CHAPTER XI. Like those houses in the lower streets of cities which were once family dwellings. but are now used for commercial purposes. the turrets and the spires. but that part which soars towards heaven. and joy.
. and love. the part nearest the ground finished. forever incomplete. but they are all deserted now.

--GOETHE. and the beauteous sister of temperance. of liberty and ease.--DR. Economy is the parent of integrity.
WEALTH IN ECONOMY.
. Better go to bed supperless than rise with debts.--SPURGEON.CHAPTER XII.--GERMAN PROVERB. JOHNSON.--LATIN PROVERB.
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CHAPTER XII.--FRANKLIN.--EMERSON. Riches amassed in haste will diminish. Beware of little extravagances: a small leak will sink a big ship. No gain is so certain as that which proceeds from the economical use of what you have. but those collected by hand and little by little will multiply. of cheerfulness and health. Economy is half the battle of life. Can anything be so elegant as to have few wants and to serve them one's self? As much wisdom can be expended on a private economy as on an empire.

He listened to their story and gave one hundred dollars. I can get no remedy against this consumption of the purse. planets and solar systems will not suffice. Not for to hide it in a hedge." whispered a lady to her companion. I am very agreeably surprised. Sense can support herself handsomely in most countries on some eighteen pence a day.--TUPPER. easy enough to get into.
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Debt is like any other trap. Whatever be your talents. but the disease is incurable. as John Murray blew out one of the two candles by whose light he had been writing when they asked him to contribute to some benevolent object.--BULWER. but hard enough to get out of.--H. SHAW. never speculate away on the chance of a palace that which you may need as a provision against the workhouse. "Mr. Economy. But for the glorious privilege Of being independent.--SHAKESPEARE. Nor for a train attendant." said the lady
. W. "We shan't get much here. the poor man's mint. whatever be your prospects. BURNS. but for phantasy.--MACAULAY. borrowing only lingers and lingers it out. Murray.CHAPTER XII.

ladies.
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quoted. when told. but to his surprise. said." The old Quaker asked the reason for her opinion." "Poverty is a condition which no man should accept. is the reason I am able to let you have the hundred dollars. "I did not expect to get a cent from you. unless it is forced upon him as an inexorable necessity or as the alternative of dishonor. and." ****** [Illustration: ALEXANDER HAMILTON] "The Moses of Colonial Finance. At that time he was admonishing his clerk for using whole wafers instead of halves. "That. It is by practicing economy that I save up money with which to do charitable actions.CHAPTER XII. One candle is enough to talk by. his friend thought the circumstance unpropitious." ****** Emerson relates the following anecdote: "An opulent merchant in Boston was called on by a friend in behalf of a charity. on listening
." "Comfort and independence abide with those who can postpone their desires.

"It is by saving half wafers. was that he saved his money.CHAPTER XII. that I have now something to give. The applicant expressed his astonishment that any person who was so particular about half a wafer should present five hundred dollars to a charity. yet in fifty years it would easily amount to twenty thousand dollars. compound interest. and attending to such little things. wealth. but the merchant said. investing at seven per cent. The only reason the modest young man gave. nor influence. the shipowner. he will have thirty-two thousand dollars when he is seventy years old. "What maintains one vice
. Farwell & Co." "How did you acquire your great fortune?" asked a friend of Lampis. "My great fortune. Twenty cents a day is no unusual expenditure for beer or cigars. the merchant subscribed five hundred dollars. If a man will begin at the age of twenty and lay by twenty-six cents every working day.
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to the appeal. Even a saving of one dollar a week from the date of one's majority would give him one thousand dollars for each of the last ten of the allotted years of life." Four years from the time Marshall Field left the rocky New England farm to seek his fortune in Chicago he was admitted as a partner in the firm of Coaley. "my small one. by dint of exertion." was the reply. to explain his promotion when he had neither backing. easily.

Only frugality enables them to outdo the rich on their own ground. it would swing open with every breeze." And so the rich Paris banker would not let his servant buy meat for broth. "what is to become of that? It will be a sad waste. One day a pig ran out into the woods. but I have no appetite for the meat.
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would bring up two children. But miserliness or avariciousness is a different thing from economy. she
. A writer on political economy tells of the mishaps resulting from a broken latch on a farmyard gate. Every one on the farm went to help get him back. and sprained his ankle so badly as to be confined to his bed for two weeks. A miser who spends a cent upon himself where another would spend a quarter does it from parsimony. but as the latch would not hold it. The miserly is the miserable man. I should like some soup. A gardener jumped over a ditch to stop the pig. Every one going through would shut the gate. which is a subordinate characteristic of avarice. In fact." said the dying Ostervalde. When the cook returned. such high courage.CHAPTER XII. the poor and the middle classes give most in the aggregate to missions and hospitals and to the poor." Such rigid economy. enables one to surprise the world with gifts even if he is poor. who hoards money from a love of it. Of this the following is an illustration: "True.

On learning Hopkins's business he blew out the light. is not only apt to cause misery. another well-known miser. He did not marry. "What is your business?" asked Guy. "Lay by something for a rainy day." said a gentleman to an Irishman in his service.
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found that her linen. and afterward the founder of the great hospital. alluding to the niggardly economy for which Guy was famous." Yet that kind of economy which verges on the niggardly is better than the extravagance that laughs at it. Not long afterwards he asked Patrick how much he had added to his store. Either. living in the back part of his shop. I see where your secret lies. eating upon an old bench. left to dry at the fire." was the reply. Yet a new latch would not have cost five cents. with a newspaper for a cloth. when carried to excess. was a great miser. the London bookseller. saying. The dairymaid in her excitement left the cows untied. "To discuss your methods of saving money. Guy. "We can do that in the dark. The gardener lost several hours of valuable time.
. and one of them broke the leg of a colt." said the "Vulture. you are my master in the art." "Sir." "I need ask no further. was all badly scorched. lighting a candle.CHAPTER XII. One day he was visited by "Vulture" Hopkins. but to ruin the character. and using his counter for a table. "Faith.

men were short-lived." But nowhere and at no period were these contrasts more startling than in Imperial Rome. caprice. Suetonius mentions a supper given to Vitellius by his brother. disease was rife. impurity. but it rained very hard yesterday. ostentation.
. and which was known to be less costly than some of her other dresses." "Wealth.000.000 sesterces." was the reply. There a whole population might be trembling lest they should be starved by the delay of an Alexandrian corn-ship. rioted in the heart of a society which knew of no other means by which to break the monotony of its weariness or alleviate the anguish of its despair. while the upper classes were squandering fortunes at a single banquet. At this time the dress of Roman ladies displayed an unheard-of splendor.CHAPTER XII. in which. among other articles. a monster gorged 'Mid starving populations. and feasting on the brains of peacocks and the tongues of nightingales. which had cost 40. and it all went--in drink. "I did as you bid me. The expense ridiculously bestowed on the Roman feasts passes all belief. Gluttony. extravagance. As a consequence.
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nothing at all. The elder Pliny tells us that he himself saw Lollia Paulina dressed for a betrothal feast in a robe entirely covered with pearls and emeralds. drinking out of myrrhine and jeweled vases worth hundreds of pounds.

Johnson. from its size and capacity. "there is no virtue. "for I have not an inch of room nor a farthing left. and one dish. "Mr.CHAPTER XII. and the tongues of parrots. a delicate species of fish. "I have found the Philosopher's Stone: it is Pay as you go. Speaker." The eccentric John Randolph once sprang from his seat in the House of Representatives. The habit of buying what you don't need because it is cheap encourages extravagance. named the aegis or shield of Minerva. "Many have been ruined by buying good pennyworths. and exclaimed in his piercing voice. in the stillness which followed this strange outburst." A woman once bought an old door-plate with "Thompson" on it because she thought it might come in handy some time." And then." "Where there is no prudence.
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there were two thousand of the choicest fishes. "I hope that there will not be another sale. the brains of pheasants and peacocks."
. It was filled chiefly with the liver of the scari. I have found it. seven thousand of the most delicate birds. he added. considered desirable chiefly because of their great cost." exclaimed Horace Walpole." said Dr.

waste it." said Barnum. When the young man starts out
. Unfortunately Congress can pass no law that will remedy the vice of living beyond one's means. lavish it. After a large stained-glass window had been constructed an artist picked up the discarded fragments and made one of the most exquisite windows in Europe for another cathedral." "However easy it may be to make money. "it is the most difficult thing in the world to keep it. is an education difficult of acquirement. Very few men know how to use money properly.
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Many a young man seems to think that when he sees his name on a sign he is on the highway to fortune. or gain a fortune by saving what others waste. as a means to an end. They can earn it. "The prosperity of fools shall destroy them. It has become a part of the new political economy to argue that a debt on a church or a house or a firm is a desirable thing to develop character.CHAPTER XII. as though he were already beyond the danger point. So one boy will pick up a splendid education out of the odds and ends of time which others carelessly throw away. but to deal with it wisely. and he begins to live on a scale as though there was no possible chance of failure." Money often makes the mare--run away with you. hoard it.

unless overtaken by misfortune. from a business point of view. when a man or woman is driven to the wall. then he is bound in so much at least to succeed. If you are in debt. and that to owe a dollar that you cannot pay. is nothing more or less than stealing. would often form the basis of a fortune and independence. part of you belongs to your creditors. that a mortgage is to be shunned like the cholera. Besides. rich and poor. The man without a penny is practically helpless. But it is by economizing such savings that one must get his start in business. The "loose change" which many young men throw away carelessly.CHAPTER XII. Nothing but actual sin is so paralyzing to a young man's energies as debt.
. amount to an average of less than fifty cents a day. except so far as he can immediately utilize his powers of body and mind. male and female.
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in life with the old-fashioned idea strong in his mind that debt is bondage and a disgrace. To do your best you must own every bit of yourself. the chance of goodness surviving self-respect and the loss of public esteem is frightfully diminished. and save his old age from being a burden upon his friends or the state. old and young. or worse. The earnings of the people of the United States.

" Liberal." "Don't squeeze out of your life and comfort and family what you save. and are very ignorant and narrow. for culture rather than for amusement. but we cannot shed a hair or a paring of a nail but instantly she snatches at the shred and appropriates it to her general stock. Spend for the mind rather than for the body.CHAPTER XII. "Nature uses a grinding economy. He commanded to gather up the fragments. Some young men are too stingy to buy the daily papers." Last summer's flowers and foliage decayed in autumn only to enrich the earth this
. for the higher faculties. not lavish." says Emerson. cannot afford to be extravagant. Spend upward." "There is that withholdeth more than is meet. "working up all that is wasted to-day into to-morrow's creation. not a superfluous grain of sand for all the ostentation she makes of expense and public works. that is. it is said. Even God." Live between extravagance and meanness. She flung us out in her plenty. is Nature's hand. that nothing be lost.
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"Money goes as it comes. "The very secret and essence of thrift consists in getting things into higher values. Don't save money and starve your mind. When He increased the loaves and fishes. but it tendeth to poverty." "A child and a fool imagine that twenty years and twenty shillings can never be spent.

of 1822. Girl. still less. And you'll all be gazetted.
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year for other forms of beauty. that little becomes much. silk and satin. Miss. It is foresight and arrangement. useless things to
. to the mow. that the parts may be used again for other creations. parsimony. tally-ho. Boy. Man. Hone's Works. Nature will not even wait for our friends to see us.CHAPTER XII. It is not merely saving. to the sow. And your rents will be netted. 1822. The moment the breath has left the body she begins to take us to pieces. to the cow. piano. It is by the mysterious power of economy. that the loaf is multiplied. More than a lifetime has elapsed since the above was published. Wife. but instead of returning to the style of 1772. Mark the following contrast:-1772. and many a farmhouse. Boy. may be known by the cupola and the mortgage with which it is decorated. The Times. insight and combination. and that out of nothing or next to nothing comes the miracle of something. Man. Wife. to the plow. unless we die at home. that scattered fragments grow to unity. causing inert things to labor. that using does not waste. like the home of Artemas [Transcriber's note: Artemus?] Ward. it has been said. Greek and Latin. our farmers have out-Heroded Herod in the direction of the fashion.

"So apportion your wants that your means may exceed them. from hard crusts of bread. seldom take a holiday. yet save very little. "I am simply astonished.
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serve our necessities. I always throw away." writes an American lady stopping in France. delicately prepared and seasoned. Dainty little dishes from scraps of cold meat. In France every housekeeper is taught the art of making much out of little. and though they get nearly double the wages of the same classes in France. in letters of gold. William Marsh. perishing things to renew their vigor." says Rev. and all things to exert themselves for human comfort. Josiah Quincy used to say that the servant girls built most of the palaces on Beacon Street. which at home. English working men and women work very hard. "the one word. mostly saved in driblets.000. from almost everything and nothing. "at the number of good wholesome dishes which my friend here makes for her table from things. "With one hundred pounds a year I
. The millions earned by them slip out of their hands almost as soon as obtained to satisfy the pleasures of the moment. savings-bank." Boston savings-banks have $130." "I wish I could write all across the sky.000 on deposit." says Bulwer. And yet there is no feeling of stinginess or want.CHAPTER XII.

I may so ill manage. sir. I may have my tyrannical master in servants whose wages I cannot pay.' But with five thousand pounds a year I may dread a ring at my bell.CHAPTER XII. I may so well manage my money.'" The sentiment.--safety and respect. my exile may be at the fiat of the first long-suffering man who enters a judgment against me. meaning "Thrift is a good income. when Burke turned the mistake to advantage.--'Magnum vectigal est parsimonia." is well worthy of emphatic repetition by us all. I rejoice at it." accenting the second word on the first syllable. speaking on Economic Reform. no man is needy who spends less.
. Lord North whispered a correction.
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may need no man's help. Every man is needy who spends more than he has. "The noble lord hints that I have erred in the quantity of a principal word in my quotation." Edmund Burke. that with one hundred pounds a year I purchase the best blessings of wealth. that with five thousand pounds a year I purchase the worst evils of poverty. for the flesh that lies nearest my heart some Shylock may be dusting his scales and whetting his knife. because it gives me an opportunity of repeating the inestimable adage. quoted from Cicero: "Magnum vectigal est parsimonia.--terror and shame. I may at least have 'my crust of bread and liberty.

Economizing "in spots" or by freaks is no economy at all. He understood that without economy none can be rich." "Fashion wears out more apparel than the man." said Wellington.CHAPTER XII. Dr. To find out uses for the persons or things which are now wasted in life is to be the glorious work of the men of the next generation." says Shakespeare. and that which will contribute most to their enrichment. "I make a point of paying my own bills. that ruin us. and without it no fortune is possible. Boys who are careless with their dimes and quarters. but other people's. It must be done by management. Franklin said. John Jacob Astor said that the first thousand dollars cost him more effort than all of his millions.
. and with it none need be poor. just because they have so few. never get this first thousand.
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Washington examined the minutest expenditures of his family. Learn early in life to say "I can't afford it. "It is not our own eyes. even when President of the United States." It is an indication of power and courage and manliness.

the foot on the staircase. be gulped down. what warmth in a threadbare coat. what cares. how glossy the well-worn hat. however courteously it may be offered. Though the drinker makes wry faces. The street door falls not a knell in his heart. what ambrosial nourishment in a hard egg! Be sure of it.' And then.' and his pulse still beats healthfully. But debt.CHAPTER XII. though he lives on the third pair. what toothsomeness in a dry crust. at the rap of his door he can crow 'come in. if it covers not the aching head of a debtor! Next. after all. open face into wrinkles.--how it has been known to change a goodly face into a mask of brass. "What meanness. how with the evil custom of debt has the true man become a callous trickster! A freedom from debt. the vest not owed for. what double-dealing! How in due season it will carve the frank. what invasions of self-respect. how like a knife it will stab the honest heart. the outdoor recreation of the free man. the home sweets. And then its transformations. and sometimes can with advantage. be a wholesome goodness in the cup. yet may. he who dines out of debt. dines in 'The Apollo. sends no spasm through his anatomy. See him abroad! How he returns look for look with any passenger. Poverty is a bitter draught.
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"Of what a hideous progeny of ill is debt the father. and what nourishing sweetness may be found in cold water. there may." said Douglas Jerrold. for raiment. though his meal be a biscuit and an onion. if the tailor's receipt be in your pocket! What Tyrian purple in the faded waistcoat. is the Cup of
.

" says Carlyle. see thy mouth water at a last week's roll. My son. cold. and flee debt."
." says Horace Greeley. contempt. is poison. Why not economize before getting into debt instead of pinching afterwards? Communities which live wholly from hand to mouth never make much progress in the useful arts. philosophers to teach him.
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Siren. think a threadbare coat the only wear. "commands cooks to feed him. Savings mean power." "Whoever has sixpence is sovereign over all men to the extent of that sixpence. unjust reproach. see Hyson in the running spring. do this. and acknowledge a whitewashed garret the fittest housing-place for a gentleman. you will be apt to regard him with uncharitable eyes. hard work. and the sheriff confounded. are disagreeable. rags. spiced and delicious though it be. Comfort and independence abide with those who can postpone their desires. too. If you owe another money.--to the extent of that sixpence. suspicion. kings to mount guard over him. he is almost sure to owe you a grudge. and the wine. if poor." If a man owes you a dollar. So shall thy heart be at rest.CHAPTER XII. "but debt is infinitely worse than them all. "Hunger.

"not by what we really want. Debt demoralized Daniel Webster. in every church. Annual income. It is better to starve than not to do this. in every home. if they be real wants. and Sheridan.CHAPTER XII. and Theodore Hook. but by what we think we do. Therefore never go abroad in search of your wants. "Annual income. It is a good motto to place in every purse. they will come home in search of you. result--happiness." says Micawber. for he that buys what he does not want will soon want what he cannot buy. Paul.
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Many a ruined man dates his downfall from the day when he began borrowing money. and Fox. Economy is of itself a great revenue.
. annual expenditure." says Colton. Owe no man anything. Mirabeau's life was made wretched by duns. annual expenditure. in every counting-room." "We are ruined. result--misery. nineteen six. twenty pounds. and Pitt. wrote St. "twenty pounds." The honorable course is to give every man his due. It is better to do a small business on a cash basis than a large one on credit. twenty pounds ought and six.--CICERO.

. that he is the poor man beside me.--EMERSON.
RICH WITHOUT MONEY. I would have my services to my country unstained by any interested motive. by endeavoring to be superior to everything poor. and color for those who choose. Ill fares the land.--CICERO.--neither by comfort. to hastening ills a prey. GOLDSMITH. because he has broad lands.--LORD COLLINGWOOD. I ought to make him feel that I can do without his riches.
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CHAPTER XIII. to be without is not always to lack. and to reach is not to attain. To be content with what we possess is the greatest and most secure of riches. and receiving bread from him. to feel that he is rich in my presence. I ought not to allow any man. Let others plead for pensions. that I cannot be bought. and ownership is not possession. neither by pride. Where wealth accumulates and men decay.--and although I be utterly penniless. Pennilessness is not poverty.CHAPTER XIII.--HELEN HUNT. I can be rich without money. sunlight is for all eyes that look up.

CHAPTER XIII."
.--SOCRATES. Nor decked with diamonds and Indian stones. are rich." the Diamond. He is richest who is content with the least. Nor to be seen: my crown is called content. and thousands without even a pocket. Gold is poor. Where. that seldom kings enjoy. YOUNG. Many a man is rich without money. SHAKESPEAKE.--LACORDAIRE. not on my head. India's insolvent: seek it in thyself. Thousands of men with nothing in their pockets. for content is the wealth of nature.--ECCLESIASTES. "Not in me. thy true treasure? Gold says." And "Not in me. My crown is in my heart.
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There is no riches above a sound body and no joy above the joy of the heart. ****** [Illustration: RALPH WALDO EMERSON] "The Sage of Concord. A crown it is. A great heart in a little house is of all things here below that which has ever touched me most.

" said Beecher. are always
. the finer sculptures and the paintings within. Why should I scramble and struggle to get possession of a little portion of this earth? This is my world now. a good stomach. enjoy it. soul-life. is rich.
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"I revere the person who is riches: so I cannot think of him as alone. hope. yet the green grass. They are merely taking care of my property and keeping it in excellent condition for me. and the statues on the lawns. Good bones are better than gold. or exiled. it gives me no care. For a few pennies for railroad fare whenever I wish I can see and possess the best of it all. and nerves that carry energy to every function are better than houses and land. sound constitution.CHAPTER XIII. a good heart and good limbs. or poor. I need not envy the so-called owners of estates in Boston and New York. joy. and love. are true riches." ****** A man born with a good. the shrubbery. why should I envy others its mere legal possession? It belongs to him who can see it. and a pretty good headpiece. tough muscles than silver. or unhappy. It has cost me no effort. "Heart-life.

Life and landscape are mine. All around me are working hard to get things that will please me. railroads. all mankind are my servants. and carries away a treasure of beauty which the owner never saw. and competing to see who can give them the cheapest. with open mind and poetic fancy. galleries. an autograph of Shakespeare. I have much of the wealth of the world now. A collector bought at public auction in London. but for nothing a schoolboy can read and absorb the riches of "Hamlet.
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ready for me whenever I feel a desire to look upon them. it would take too much of my valuable time. for one hundred and fifty-seven guineas. I do not wish to carry them home with me. for I could not give them half the care they now receive. the stars and flowers. the sea and air. an easy task in this land of opportunity. the birds and trees." which is ever a little more than
. besides. and I should be worrying continually lest they be spoiled or stolen. A millionaire pays thousands of pounds for a gallery of paintings." Why should I waste my abilities pursuing this will-o'-the-wisp "Enough. and some poor boy or girl comes in.CHAPTER XIII. The little I pay for the use of libraries. What more do I want? All the ages have been working for me. I am only required to feed and clothe myself. It is all prepared for me without any pains on my part. parks. is less than it would cost to care for the least of all I use.

and which none of the panting millions ever yet overtook in his mad chase? Is there no desirable thing left in this world but gold. more thousands and millions"? What message does it bring you? Clothes for the naked." Shall we seek happiness through the sense of taste or of touch? Shall we idolize our stomachs and our backs? Have we no higher missions. of education. no nobler destinies? Shall we "disgrace the fair day by a pusillanimous preference of our bread to our freedom"? In the three great "Banquets" of Plato. or a vessel with virtue. "Eat. and be merry. of an opportunity to help your fellow-man. for to-morrow we die"? Does it bring a message of comfort. and ease? "Want is a growing giant whom the coat of Have was never large enough to cover. asylums for the orphans. schools for the ignorant. bread for the starving. "as a heart with wealth.
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one has." "A man may as soon fill a chest with grace." says Phillips Brooks.CHAPTER XIII. of books. of travel. or of more for yourself and none
. or is the message "More land. and Plutarch the food is not even mentioned. drink. Xenophon. luxury. hospitals for the sick. What does your money say to you: what message does it bring to you? Does it say to you. of culture.

for contentment is nature's riches. Bad characters were compelled to wear gold head-bands. about to leave in the only boat. begged him to seek safety with them. whose thought enriches the intellect of the world. a larger aim.
. breadth or narrowness? Does it speak to you of character? Does it mean a broader manhood. A sailor on a sinking vessel in the Caribbean Sea eagerly filled his pockets with Spanish dollars from a barrel on board while his companions. when the vessel went down. and to have rings of it in their ears. it was put to the vilest uses to keep up the scorn of it. more. or a man filled with a purpose? He is rich whose mind is rich. more"? Are you an animal loaded with ingots. and was prevented from reaching shore by his very riches." In More's "Utopia" gold was despised. Criminals were forced to wear heavy chains of it. "Who is the richest of men. But he could not leave the bright metal which he had so longed for and idolized. It is a sad sight to see a soul which thirsts not for truth or beauty or the good. Diamonds and pearls were used to decorate infants." asked Socrates? "He who is content with the least. or does it cry "More. a nobler ambition. so that the youth would discard and despise them.CHAPTER XIII.
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for others? Is it a message of generosity or of meanness.

He takes ducat after ducat out. And lack the riches all may gain. pulled a bag of money from under his pillow. In excavating Pompeii a skeleton was found with the fingers clenched round a quantity of gold. Who house the chaff and burn the grain. As fast as he took one out another was to drop in. if the rich were as rich as the poor fancy riches!" exclaims Emerson. England. but continually procrastinates and puts off the hour of enjoyment until he has got "a little more. The stranger gave him a purse. WILLIAM WATSON. Oh! blind and wanting wit to choose. Poverty is the want of much.
. Who hug the wealth ye cannot use. but he was not to begin to spend his fortune until he had thrown away the purse. which he held between his clenched fingers with a grasp so firm as scarcely to relax under the agonies of death. avarice the want of everything.
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"Ah.CHAPTER XIII." and dies at last counting his millions. A man of business in the town of Hull. when dying. A poor man was met by a stranger while scoffing at the wealthy for not enjoying themselves. in which he was always to find a ducat. Many a rich man has died in the poorhouse.

who was so mean and sordid that he would never give a cent to any person or object. and tied it in her apron. when his foot touched the spring of the trap. The gold falls to the ground. jumped for the last boat leaving the steamer. When his health gave way from anxiety and watching he built an underground treasure-chamber. hidden stream. and he was hurled into the deep.CHAPTER XIII. having collected all the gold she could from the staterooms. and all is lost. until the bag bursts.
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A beggar was once met by Fortune. One night the miser went to his chest to see that all was right. When the steamer Central America was about to sink. he would step upon a spring which would precipitate him into a subterranean river. In the year 1843 a rich miser lived in Padua. She missed her aim and fell into the water. the gold carrying her down head first. but would sit up nights with sword and pistol by him to guard his idol hoard. so arranged that if any burglar ever entered. The beggar opens his wallet. the stewardess.
. on condition that whatever touched the ground should turn at once to dust. and he was so afraid of the banks that he would not deposit with them. where he could neither escape nor be heard. asks for more and yet more. as much as he might please. who promised to fill his wallet with gold.

He became a good botanist. a little later. poverty.CHAPTER XIII. after which his progress was quite rapid. to teach him. he persuaded a schoolgirl. A man whom he met became interested at finding such a well-stored mind in such a miserable body. He was very fond of plants. was ignorant.
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"One would think. but he saved it. and such was his interest in the study that at the age of eighty he walked twelve miles to obtain a new specimen. The farmer. sir. "that the proprietor of all this (Keddlestone. the illegitimate child of a Scottish weaver. and when. a miserable apology for a human being. for whom he watched cattle." said Johnson. Many readers sent him money. and wring out his wet clothes and sleep as best he might. was cruel to him. But the boy had a desire to learn to read. the seat of Lord Scarsfield) must be happy." said Boswell. poorly clad. he was put to weaving. and worked overtime for several months to earn five shillings to buy a book on botany." John Duncan. He was sixteen when he learned the alphabet. twelve years old. Here he would empty the water from his shoes. and published an account of his career. and at last a pauper. bent. near-sighted. "all this excludes but one evil. and left it in his will to found eight scholarships and offer prizes for the encouragement of the
. If he went upon the street he would sometimes be stoned by other boys. and after a rainy day would send him cold and wet to sleep on a miserable bed in a dark outhouse." "Nay.

the more he wants. Others are rich in disposition. he is poor indeed. a millionaire of ideas with Emerson. He is rich or poor according to what he is. it makes one. a Florence Nightingale.
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study of natural science by the poor. however much money or land he may possess. and friends. If that is poor. It is the mind that makes the body rich. A great bank account can never make a man rich. Instead of filling a vacuum. not according to what he has. with Wordsworth. in a mercurial temperament which floats them over troubles and trials enough to sink a shipload of ordinary men. a Childs. with Lowell. some so cheerful that they carry an atmosphere of jollity about them. though he own and rule kingdoms. family. His small but valuable library was left for a similar use. The more a man has. a Grant. No man is rich.
. a millionaire of statesmanship with a Gladstone. there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. a Sumner. a Bright. There are some men so amiable that everybody loves them. Who would not choose to be a millionaire of deeds with a Lincoln.CHAPTER XIII. who has a poor heart. Franklin said money never made a man happy yet. with Shakespeare. in constant cheerfulness. a Washington? Some men are rich in health. Some are rich in integrity and character.

CHAPTER XIII. not a bird that fans the air. not a glimpse of sea or sky or meadow-greenery. nor a mountain. Vulgar Wealth will flaunt her banner before his eyes. and claim supremacy over everything else. all sorts of wares will be imposed upon him. The youth who would succeed must not allow himself to be deceived by appearances. The whole world of matter and of spirit and the long record of human art are open to him as the never-failing fountains of his delight. nor a creature that walks the earth. but must place the emphasis of life where it belongs. and all kinds of temptations will be used to induce him to buy. can read the works of John Ruskin without learning that his sources of pleasure are well-nigh infinite. His success will depend very largely upon his ability to estimate properly. not a thought of God as the Great Spirit presiding over and informing all things. not a work of worthy art in the domains of painting. sculpture. Every occupation and vocation will present its charms in turn. In these pure realms
. not the apparent but the real value of everything presented to him. and architecture. nor a tree. As the youth starts out in his career.
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One of the first great lessons of life is to learn the true estimate of values. and offer its inducements. No man. that is not to him a source of the sweetest pleasure. it is said. nor a cloud. A thousand different schemes will be thrust into his face with their claims for superiority. poetry. nor a star. There is not a flower.

They sucked in power and wealth at first hands from the meadows. Garrison. They believed in man's unlimited
. Beecher. They knew that man could not live by estates. Agassiz. the glory in the grass. and good in everything. brooks. mountains. and bread alone. and "worships the splendor of God which he sees bursting through each chink and cranny. and that if he could he would only be an animal. To these rare souls every natural object was touched with power and beauty. and forest. fields. They believed that man's most important food does not enter by the mouth. They knew that the man who owns the landscape is seldom the one who pays the taxes on it. birds. and their thirsty souls drank it in as a traveler on a desert drinks in the god-sent water of the oasis. There is now and then a man who sees beauty and true riches everywhere. To extract power and real wealth from men and things seemed to be their mission. Every natural object seemed to bring them a special message from the great Author of the beautiful." Phillips Brooks. They believed that the higher life demands a higher food. and to pour it out again in refreshing showers upon a thirsty humanity. sermons in stones.
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he seeks his daily food and has his daily life. Thoreau. books in the running brooks. dollars. Emerson. as the bee sucks honey from the flowers. They saw the splendor in the flower.CHAPTER XIII. and flowers. were rich without money.

than could be ground into flour. in the waving corn. They felt a sentiment in natural objects which pointed upward.
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power of expansion.CHAPTER XIII. when we might
. and that this growth demands a more highly organized food product than that which merely sustains animal life. They could feel this finer sentiment. in the meadows. in every flower. this soul lifter. They believed that the Creation thunders the ten commandments. We all live on far lower levels than we need to do. He must bring a spirit as grand and sublime as that by which the thing itself exists. that if rightly used they would carve his rough life into beauty and touch his rude manner with grace. They saw it reflected in every brook. in every star. and that all Nature is tugging at the terms of every contract to make it just. and which was capable of feeding and expanding the higher life until it should grow into a finer sympathy and fellowship with the Author of the beautiful." But if he would enjoy Nature he must come to it from a higher level than the yardstick. ever upward to the Author. They saw a finer nutriment in the landscape. in the growing grain. in every dewdrop. this man inspirer. They believed that Nature together with human nature were man's great schoolmasters. We linger in the misty and oppressive valleys. and which escaped the loaf. "More servants wait on man than he'll take notice of. in the golden harvest.

than we can ever exhaust the meaning of. no matter where we are placed. instead of bemoaning our lot. in the structure of the human body. The human body is packed full of marvelous devices.
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be climbing the sunlit hills. "We have come into a world which is a living poem.CHAPTER XIII. Emerson says.
. for. We cannot conceive how a universe could possibly be created which could devise more efficient methods or greater opportunities for the delight. even in the minutest detail. No physiologist nor scientist has ever yet been able to point out a single improvement. and the real wealth of human beings than the one we live in. there is infinitely more about us than we can ever understand. of infinite possibilities for the happiness and riches of the individual." Nature provides for us a perpetual festival. No chemist has ever been able to suggest a superior combination in any one of the elements which make up the human structure. Everything is as I am. and we suffer it to drop out of our hands unread. she is bright to the bright. comforting to those who will accept comfort. of wonderful contrivances. the happiness. God puts into our hands the Book of Life. One of the first things to do in life is to learn the natural wealth of our surroundings. No inventor has ever yet been able to suggest an improvement in this human mechanism. bright on every page with open secrets.

young men who prefer to have thought-capital." says Emerson. So scrupulous had he been not to make his exalted position a means of worldly gain. character-capital. but yet was he not one of the richest of men? What the world wants is young men who will amass golden thoughts. one hundred dollars to meet the necessary expenses of the occasion. and he was more than welcome everywhere. will it do good?" came to be inaugurated as Vice-President of the country. "who is riches." Arnold left only a few thousand dollars.
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"Thank Heaven there are still some Matthew Arnolds who prefer the heavenly sweetness of light to the Eden of riches. that when this Natick cobbler. the sworn friend of the oppressed. to cash-capital. golden deeds. he was obliged to borrow of his fellow-senator. so that I cannot think of him as alone. golden wisdom. Henry Wilson was rich without money. or unhappy. or exiled. All doors opened to him. "I revere the person. not mere golden dollars. He who estimates his money the highest values himself the least.CHAPTER XIII. whose one question as to measures or acts was ever "Is it right. or poor. His sweet spirit radiated sunshine wherever he went." Raphael was rich without money. Charles Sumner.
.

of contentment. we have an inheritance which is as overwhelmingly precious as it is eternally incorruptible." left barely enough money to bury him. which they had doubtless been crossing the desert to sell in the markets of Persia. Who would not prefer to be a millionaire of character. loving. and future generations will erect his monument. and yet around the waist of each was a large store of jewels of different kinds. which the upholsterer and decorator can never approach. They had evidently died from thirst. Are we tender. and honest. though our pockets are often empty.CHAPTER XIII. but he has made the world richer. rather than possess nothing but the vulgar coins of a Croesus? Whoever uplifts civilization is rich though he die penniless.
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Mozart. the great composer of the "Requiem. self-denying. trying to fashion our frail life after that of the model man of Nazareth? Then. The man who has no money is poor. A rich mind and noble spirit will cast a radiance of beauty over the humblest home. An Asiatic traveler tells us that one day he found the bodies of two men laid upon the desert sand beside the carcass of a camel. but one who has nothing but money is poorer than he. He only is rich who
.

and upon objects which elevate the soul. As Emerson remarks. This is the evil of trade.CHAPTER XIII.
. The habit of making the best of everything and of always looking on the bright side of everything is a fortune in itself. He is rich who values a good name above gold. and man himself. He is rich as well as brave who can face poverty and misfortune with cheerfulness and courage. beauty.--talent. He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts. We can so educate the will power that it will focus the thoughts upon the bright side of things. thus forming a habit of happiness and goodness which will make us rich. it would put everything into market. There are riches of intellect. Rome was imperial Rome no more when the imperial purple became an article of traffic. as well as of partisan politics. and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove. virtue. he who is covetous is poor though he have millions. and no man with an intellectual taste can be called poor.
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can enjoy without owning. Among the ancient Greeks and Romans honor was more sought after than wealth.

" Brave and honest men do not work for gold. All your
. You have silver vessels. for honor. when Las Casas endeavored to mitigate the tortures of the poor Indians. and lived in a tub." replied Diogenes. appetites. "Yes. His purchaser released him. "I would be Diogenes. "and besides. When Socrates suffered death rather than abandon his views of right morality. "I want you to stand out of my sunshine and not to take from me what you cannot give me. My mind to me a kingdom is. and it furnishes me with abundant and happy occupation in lieu of your restless idleness. They work for love. and gave him charge of his household and of the education of his children. after all." said Epictetus to the rich Roman orator who was making light of his contempt for money-wealth.
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Diogenes was captured by pirates and sold as a slave. and for the relief of all that suffered." exclaimed the great conqueror." "Were I not Alexander. He despised wealth and affectation." said the stoic. they had no thought of money or country. "you are poorer than I am. "Do you want anything?" asked Alexander the Great. They worked for the elevation of all that thought. for character. but earthenware reasons. principles.CHAPTER XIII. forcibly impressed by the abounding cheerfulness of the philosopher under such circumstances. "I don't want such things.

and crucified.CHAPTER XIII. "that I am worth a million sterling?" "Yes. no. He cried in agony. Your desire is insatiate. and Jesus Christ reached the height of his success when." "Then do not say we have lost everything." "Will the sheriff sell me?" "Oh.
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possessions seem small to you. "My dear. and yet with triumphant satisfaction." said the irritated but calm-spirited respondent.--manhood. spat upon. sir. "Will the sheriff sell you?" "Oh. mine is satisfied. We can make another fortune if our hearts and hands are left us. smitten. childhood. everything we have is in the hands of the sheriff. and I know that it is all you are worth. said to his noble wife." "Do you know." A bankrupt merchant. no. "I do." What power can poverty have over a home where loving hearts are beating with a consciousness of untold riches of head and heart? Paul was never so great as when he occupied a prison cell. mine seem great to me. womanhood." said a devotee of Mammon to John Bright." After a few moments of silence the wife looked into his face and asked. returning home one night. I am ruined. We have lost but the results of our skill and industry. tormented. All that is most valuable remains to us. "It is
.

Your riches must not make others poorer and more wretched. "What shall it profit a man.--Alexander the Great.
. "this is the Lord's gate." "We know him not." "Character before wealth." replied the angel.--the conqueror of the world. a truly great man makes official position and money and houses and estates look so tawdry. Millions look trifling beside character. You do not want to see in it drunkards reel.CHAPTER XIII. that we feel like sinking out of sight with our cheap laurels and gold. and knocked for entrance. widows moan." "Who is Alexander?" "Alexander. who had inscribed on his pocket-book. if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" If you make a fortune let every dollar of it be clean. orphans weep. "Who knocks?" demanded the guardian angel.--the Alexander." was the motto of Amos Lawrence. so mean and poor." Don't start out in life with a false standard. Alexander the Great wandered to the gates of Paradise. "Alexander. only the righteous enter here.
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finished.

They drew on their character. Character was the coin which enabled penniless men to buy thousands of dollars' worth of goods. "I have enough. Their integrity did not burn up with their stores. "I have no time to waste in making money. beauty. and the strength. This record was as good as a bank account. and that they were industrious and dealt honorably with all men. The best part of them was beyond the reach of fire and could not be burned.CHAPTER XIII. without money? Their record was their bank account. Life is not sufficiently long to enable a man to get rich and do his duty to his fellow-men at the same time. some into wholesale business.
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A friend of Professor Agassiz. an eminent practical man. once expressed his wonder that a man of such abilities should remain contented with such a moderate income as he received. The commercial agencies said they were square men." How were the thousands of business men who lost every dollar they had in the Chicago fire enabled to go into business at once. the treasures of knowledge. that they had paid promptly." was Agassiz's reply. that they had always paid one hundred cents on a dollar. or a Rothschild. when weighed against the stores of wisdom. What are the toil-sweated productions of wealth piled up in vast profusion around a Girard. and glory with which victorious virtue has enriched and adorned a great
.

how many things are in the world of which Diogenes hath no need!" exclaimed the stoic. and soberness.
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multitude of minds during the march of a hundred generations? "Lord. nor can we all be rich. and then the boy is blamed if he makes a failure." to "rise in the world. and to learn how to do without success. with wrong ideas of what constitutes success? The child is "urged to get on.
.) Is it any wonder that our children start out with wrong ideals of life. False standards are everywhere set up for him. piety. temperance. "There are treasures laid up in the heart--treasures of charity. It is all very well to urge youth on to success. One of the great lessons to teach in this century of sharp competition and the survival of the fittest is how to be rich without money." to "make money. as he wandered among the miscellaneous articles at a country fair. These treasures a man takes with him beyond death when he leaves this world." (Buddhist Scriptures.CHAPTER XIII." The youth is constantly told that nothing succeeds like success. according to the popular standard. but the great mass of mankind can never reach or even approximate the goal constantly preached to them.

"Love. We do not appreciate the secret burdens which almost crush the heart. however. But she soon found that underneath the flowers were piercing thorns which tore her flesh." inscribed upon it. thinking she was fortunate in finding one so much lighter and lovelier. She was amazed.CHAPTER XIII. the suppressed emotion in other lives. The most beautiful one was set in jewels of gold. and she changed it for another cross very beautiful and entwined with flowers. to find that it was her old cross which she had discarded. In the poem. How easy other people's burdens seem to us compared with our own. But soon her back began to ache under the glittering burden. At last she came to a very plain cross without jewels. She took this one up and it proved the easiest and best of all. crosses of divers shapes and sizes.
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Gold cannot make the miser rich. and with only the word.
. the hidden poverty." a weary woman is represented as dreaming that she was led to a place where many crosses lay. without carving. It is easy to see the jewels and the flowers in other people's crosses. "The Changed Cross. nor can the want of it make the beggar poor. but the thorns and heavy weight are known only to the bearers. nor the years of weary waiting for delayed success--the aching hearts longing for sympathy. It was so tiny and exquisite that she changed her own plain cross for it.

I observe. The object for which we strive tells the story of our lives. rust cannot consume it. I look bigger." "There is a cunning juggle in riches. stocks and bonds? "It is better that great souls should live in small habitations than that abject slaves should burrow in great houses." says Franklin. more
. Invest in yourself. "no man can take it from him. Men and women should be judged by the happiness they create in those around them. Noble deeds always enrich. and grand effort are real riches. and by the side of him who possesses it the millionaire who has it not seems a pauper. "If a man empties his purse into his head. considered money as dirt beneath his feet compared with the public interest and public esteem. more armor." says Emerson.CHAPTER XIII.
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William Pitt. but am not so warm. Floods cannot carry your wealth away. I have more clothes. His hands were clean. and you will never be poor. but millions of mere money may impoverish. the great Commoner. but less courage. Character is perpetual wealth. what are houses and lands. Compared with it. rich thought. "that they take somewhat for everything they give. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." Plain living. but I am less. fire cannot burn it.

'T is only noble to be good.
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books.
." Howe'er it be. it seems to me.CHAPTER XIII. but less wit. And simple faith than Norman blood. TENNYSON. Kind hearts are more than coronets.

one moment opportune. In the strife of Truth with Falsehood. And ready for the passing instant's boon To tip in favor the uncertain beam.CHAPTER XIV. big with fate. One day. To each man's life there comes a time supreme. From opportunity's extended hand. When the great clock of destiny strikes Now! MARY A. Too Soon.
OPPORTUNITIES WHERE YOU ARE. Ah. One rift through which sublime fulfillments gleam. happy he who. or one noon. for the good or evil side. in balance 'twixt Too Late. knowing how to wait.
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CHAPTER XIV. one morning. which the waves of time wash away into nonentity. Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide. Knows also how to watch and work and stand On Life's broad deck alert. A thousand years a poor man watched Before the gate of Paradise: But while one little nap he snatched.--GEORGE ELIOT. One Once. It oped and
. LOWELL. one night. TOWNSEND. One freighted hour. One space when fate goes tiding with the stream. and at the prow To seize the passing moment. What is opportunity to a man who can't use it? An unfecundated egg.

"There are no longer any good chances for young men. Ah! was he wise? W. "There is always room at the top. MILNES." complained a law student to Daniel Webster. seize then the hour When fortune smiles and duty points the way. M. ****** [Illustration: THOMAS JEFFERSON] "The world is all gates.
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shut. B. Lie close about his feet." replied the great lawyer. Our grand business is." ******
.--DISRAELI.CHAPTER XIV. but to do what lies clearly at hand.--CARLYLE. not to see what lies dimly at a distance. The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes. R.' "'T is never offered twice. all opportunities to him who can use them. ALGER. A man's best things are nearest him.

in possibilities all about us. all opportunities to him who will use them. in faculties worth more than diamond bracelets. worn-out." A Baltimore lady lost a valuable diamond bracelet at a ball. if we could only see them. like Bunyan's Pilgrim in the dungeon of Giant Despair's castle. in a land where many poor boys become rich men. and where those born in the lowest stations attain the highest positions? The world is all gates. She cut up an old. where newsboys go to Congress. but did not know it. and supposed that it was stolen from the pocket of her cloak.
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No chance. or near
. when lo! in the lining of the cloak she discovered the diamond bracelet. who had the key of deliverance all the time with him but had forgotten it. ragged cloak to make a hood. We depend too much upon outside assistance.CHAPTER XIV. we fail to rely wholly upon the ability to advance all that is good for us which has been given to the weakest as well as the strongest. Many of us who think we are poor are rich in opportunities. "We look too high For things close by. pondering how to get money to buy food. Years afterward she washed the steps of the Peabody Institute. During all her poverty she was worth $3500. But. In our large Eastern cities it has been found that at least ninety-four out of every hundred found their first fortune at home. no opportunities.

CHAPTER XIV. and concluded to sell out and get into a more profitable business. They hastened back to Brazil. and in meeting common every-day wants. The richest gold and silver mine in Nevada was sold for $42 by the owner to get money to pay his passage to other mines. He decided to go into the coal-oil business. and after they had thrown most of the pebbles away. After arriving in San Francisco. Only a short time after the man who bought his farm discovered upon it a great flood of coal-oil. he studied coal measures and coal-oil deposits. they discovered that they were diamonds.
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at hand. and engaged in his new business two hundred miles away. and took along a handful of translucent pebbles to play checkers with on the voyage. but thinks he can do better somewhere else. Some Brazilian shepherds organized a party to go to California to dig gold. where he thought he could get rich. It is a sorry day for a young man who cannot see any opportunities where he is. only to find that the mines from which the pebbles had been gathered had been taken up by others and sold to the government.
. Professor Agassiz told the Harvard students of a farmer who owned a farm of hundreds of acres of unprofitable woods and rocks. He sold his farm for $200. and experimented for a long time. which the farmer had previously ignorantly tried to drain off.

" "How shall I know when I have found the place?"
. and was no longer a rich man. silver. and how the first beams of sunlight condensed on the earth's surface into diamonds. "I want to be rich and place my children on thrones. north. and with that all wealth vanishes. that with a handful he could buy a province. and. Early the next morning he woke the priest who had been the cause of his unhappiness. and with a mine of diamonds he could purchase a kingdom. fields of grain. Ali Hafed listened. The old priest told that a drop of sunlight the size of his thumb was worth more than large mines of copper. He was contented and happy. south." "All you have to do is to go and search until you find them. explained to him how the world was made. east.
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Hundreds of years ago there lived near the shore of the river Indus a Persian by the name of Ali Hafed. gardens of flowers. an extensive farm. He had been touched with discontent. He had a wife and children. sitting before the fire. He had a plenty of money and everything that heart could wish. He lived in a cottage on the river bank. "Go anywhere. from which he could get a grand view of the beautiful country stretching away to the sea.CHAPTER XIV. and anxiously asked him where he could find a mine of diamonds. orchards of fruit. One evening a priest of Buddha visited him. or west. "What do you want of diamonds?" asked the astonished priest. or gold. and miles of forest. that with one of them he could buy many farms like his. "But where shall I go?" asked the poor farmer." said the priest.

poor Ali Hafed threw himself into the tide and was drowned. The discontented man sold the farm for what he could get. The old priest of Buddha who had filled Ali Hafed with the fatal discontent called one day upon the new owner of the farm." answered the priest. put it on the shelf near the fireplace." They went into the garden
. he noticed a flash of light from the white sands of the brook. but found no diamonds. and pleased with its brilliant hues took it into the house. left his family with a neighbor. and went to search for the coveted treasure. "No. and forgot all about it. While his camel was drinking in the garden one day. Over the mountains of Arabia. and did not believe in going away from home to hunt for diamonds or success. took the money he had at interest. "Has Ali Hafed returned?" said the priest. He had no sooner entered the room than his eye caught that flash of light from the stone. in those white sands you will find diamonds. who made the most of his surroundings. "nor is that a diamond. He picked up a pebble. The man who bought his farm was a contented man. ashamed of his folly and of his rags." said the farmer. When his money was all gone and starvation stared him in the face. through Palestine and Egypt. That is but a stone.CHAPTER XIV.
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"When you find a river running over white sands between high mountain ranges. "Here's a diamond! here's a diamond!" the old priest shouted in great excitement. he wandered for years.

Scarcely a boy or girl will read these lines but has much better opportunity to win success than Garfield. Wilson. and thousands of others. Find it. fill it. and reaping poverty." said Emerson. Had Ali Hafed been content to remain at home.
. New openings are as easy to fill as ever to those who do their best.CHAPTER XIV. Remember that four things come not back: the spoken word. the sped arrow. he would have been one of the richest men in the world. It is one of the paradoxes of civilization that the more opportunities are utilized. had he dug in his own garden. Frances Willard. So the famous diamond beds of Golconda were discovered. for the entire farm abounded in the richest of gems. and behold.
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and stirred up the white sand with their fingers. instead of going abroad in search for wealth. the more new ones are thereby created. starvation. and the neglected opportunity. But to succeed you must be prepared to seize and improve the opportunity when it comes. and death. other diamonds more beautiful than the first gleamed out of it. although it is not so easy as formerly to obtain distinction in the old lines. "The world is no longer clay. hardships. the past life. You have your own special place and work. Franklin. Harriet Beecher Stowe. because the standard has advanced so much and competition has so greatly increased. Lincoln.

Edison found them in a baggage car.
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"but rather iron in the hands of its workers. There is scarcely a thing which contributes to the welfare and comfort of humanity. There is power lying latent everywhere waiting for the observant eye to discover it. so some men will get a fortune out of the commonest and meanest things. First find out what the world needs and then supply that want. iron filings. Opportunities? They are all around us. that is not capable of an improvement in which there may be a fortune. The patent office at Washington is full
. but it would be of no use to humanity. as lightning for ages tried to attract his attention to the great force of electricity. slag. cotton waste. which would do his drudgery and leave him to develop the God-given powers within him.CHAPTER XIV. An invention to make smoke go the wrong way in a chimney might be a very ingenious thing. as scraps of leather. from which others get only poverty and failure." Thousands of men have made fortunes out of trifles which others pass by. not an article of household furniture. a kitchen utensil. an article of clothing or of food. Forces of nature plead to be used in the service of man. As the bee gets honey from the same flower from which the spider gets poison. and men have got to hammer out a place for themselves by steady and rugged blows.

T. Finding the
. A Maine man was called in from the hayfield to wash clothes for his invalid wife. invented clippers." he was so poor that he had to borrow a sickle to cut the grass in front of his hired tenement. said to himself. Now he is a very rich man.
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of wonderful devices of ingenious mechanism. as a boy. but who could not afford to get another pair. the eyelets of whose shoes pulled out. and became rich. A.. thought he could make an improvement in shears for cutting hair. One of the greatest hindrances to advancement in life is the lack of observation and of the inclination to take pains. An observing man. Stewart. It is estimated that five out of every seven of the millionaire manufacturers began by making with their own hands the articles which made their fortunes. and so prospered. "I will make a metallic lacing hook. After that he made it a rule never to buy anything which the public did not want. An observing barber in Newark.CHAPTER XIV. and have struggled for years amid want and woe. but not one in hundreds is of use to the inventor or to the world. while the father has been working on useless inventions. J. lost eighty-seven cents when his capital was one dollar and a half in buying buttons and thread which shoppers did not call for. And yet how many families have been impoverished. which can be riveted into the leather. He had never realized what it was to wash before. N.

So he invented the principle of gold filling for teeth. and made a fortune. Mass. the founder of Clark University of Worcester. Ericsson began the construction of the screw propellers in a bathroom. with his daughter's help. began his great fortune by making toy wagons in a horse shed. Clark.CHAPTER XIV. McCormick began to make his famous reaper in a gristmill. there must be some way of filling teeth which will prevent their aching. he invented the washing-machine. the great inventor of the marine chronometer. As soon as the weather would permit. The great things of the world have not been done by men of large means. Edison began his experiments in a baggage car on the Grand Trunk Railroad when a newsboy. Parts of the first steamboat ever run in America were set up in the vestry of a church in Philadelphia by Fitch. The first model dry dock was made in an attic. and the whole settlement was in a state of excitement. In a bank of sand some glittering particles were found.
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method slow and laborious. The cotton-gin was first manufactured in a log cabin. the Jamestown colonists began to stroll about the country digging for gold. Fourteen weeks of the precious springtime. until he sold enough to hire a loft. Farquhar made umbrellas in his sitting-room. John Harrison. which ought to
.. began his career in the loft of an old barn. A man who was suffering terribly with toothache said to himself.

Even the Indians ridiculed the madness of the men who. No doubt many artists had noticed the fine quality of the marble. gained much of her reputation as a preacher on Nantucket Island. But Michael Angelo still saw an angel in the ruin. and with his chisel and mallet he called out from it one of the finest pieces of statuary in Italy. which some unskillful workman had cut.. in 1842. Mass. the young David. for imaginary grains of gold. found time and opportunity to become a celebrated astronomer. Her father. but that is a very different thing from
. who made herself felt over a whole continent. But Maria Mitchell. "Why does not America have fine sculptors?" asked a romping girl.CHAPTER XIV. were consumed in this stupid nonsense. Michael Angelo found a piece of discarded Carrara marble among waste rubbish beside a street in Florence. and thrown away. Lucretia Mott. on seventy-five dollars a year. were wasting their chances for a crop of corn. hacked. answered that he supposed "an American could be a stone-cutter. as librarian of the Nantucket Athenaeum. spoiled. a physician. one of America's foremost philanthropists and reformers. The lonely island of Nantucket would not be considered a very favorable place to win success and fame.
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have been given to plowing and planting. of Watertown. and regretted that it should have been spoiled.

Begin where you are. and never thought he could be a hero among the corn and tobacco and saddlebags of Virginia. and walked seven miles to and fro daily between her home and the city. dreaming of some far-off success. People thought he would fail. work where you are. and he failed as a merchant. a good-for-nothing farmer." said the plucky maiden. He was always dreaming of some far-off greatness." She began her studies in Boston. and there. the hour which you are now wasting.
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being a sculptor. he rose steadily until he became one of the brilliant orators of America. The medical schools in Boston would not admit her to study anatomy. and afterward. He studied law six weeks. Louis. Hosmer famous. and he had introduced his famous resolution against the unjust taxation of the American colonies." "I think. modeled and carved very beautiful statuary which made the name of Harriet G. It then first dawned upon him that he could be a hero in Virginia. In one of his first speeches upon this resolution he uttered
. may be crowded with grand possibilities. when he put out his shingle. "that if no other American tries it I will. so she had to go to St. but in his first case he showed that he had a wonderful power of oratory.CHAPTER XIV. Subsequently she went to Rome. during a long residence. From the time the Stamp Act was passed and Henry was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses. Patrick Henry was called a lazy boy.

Charles the First his Cromwell. which were prophetic of his power and courage: "Caesar had his Brutus. There is a legend of an artist who long sought for a piece of sandal-wood. Davy consulted a friend on the matter. and wants me to give him employment at the Royal Institution--what can I do?" "Do? put him to washing bottles. If this be treason." He became the wonder of his age in science.CHAPTER XIV. make the most of it. He was about to give up in despair. out of which to carve a Madonna. "He is the greatest experimental philosopher the world has ever seen. which led to a professorship at the Royal Academy at Woolwich. "Here is a letter from a young man named Faraday. if he is good for anything he will do it directly. if he refuses he is good for nothing.
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these words. Faraday. he has been attending my lectures. when in a dream he was bidden to carve his Madonna from a block of oak wood which was destined for
." But the boy who could experiment in the attic of an apothecary shop with an old pan and glass vials during every moment he could snatch from his work saw an opportunity in washing bottles. Tyndall said of this boy with no chance. asking for employment at the Royal Institution. to Humphry Davy. wrote. who was the son of a blacksmith. when a young man. and George the Third--may profit by their example." The great natural philosopher. leaving the vision of his life unrealized.

and produced a masterpiece from a log of common firewood. These are but a few of the many who have struggled with fate and risen to distinction through their own personal efforts. "America is another name for opportunities. Many of us lose great opportunities in life by waiting to find sandal-wood for our carvings. Opportunities? They are everywhere. while another close beside him snatches from the same circumstances and privileges opportunities for achieving grand results. He obeyed. the astronomer. A new era is dawning for them. such chances. Edmonia Lewis. Charlotte Cushman's parents were poor. and pursued her profession in Italy. when they really lie hidden in the common logs that we burn. the colored sculptor. was the daughter of a poor man who taught school at two dollars per week. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine Providence in behalf of the human race. such opportunities. Especially is this true for girls and young women. The renowned Jeanne d'Arc fed swine. Maria Mitchell.
. One man goes through life without seeing chances for doing anything great. Anna Dickinson began life as a school-teacher. Christine Nilsson was a poor Swedish peasant.
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the fire. and ran barefoot in childhood." Never before were there such grand openings.CHAPTER XIV. Adelaide Neilson was a child's nurse. overcame the prejudice against her sex and color.

We cannot all of us perhaps make great discoveries like Newton. are now inviting them to enter. are not known to the world. or beginning the study of law.CHAPTER XIV. she became more famous than a princess. Faraday. which were closed to them only a few years ago. by seizing common occasions and making them great. Right at home this young girl had won fame which the regal heirs might envy. I feel like congratulating her for thus asserting her individuality. to distinguish herself. When I hear of a young woman entering the medical profession. living on those barren lighthouse rocks alone with her aged parents? But while her brothers and sisters. This poor girl did not need to go to London to see the nobility. they came to the lighthouse to see her. but did her best where duty had placed her.
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Hundreds of occupations and professions. Edison. or entering school with a view to teaching.
. and a name which will never perish from the earth. But we can all of us make our lives sublime. We cannot all of us paint immortal pictures like an Angelo or a Raphael. Grace Darling. What chance had the young girl. and Thompson. who moved to the cities to win wealth and fame. She did not wander away into dreamy distance for fame and fortune.

Thou wilt surely find it here.
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If you want to get rich. The safest business is always connected with man's prime necessities. GOETHE. can make a fortune. But bravely bear thee onward to the goal. he must eat. or contribute in any way to their well-being. Any man who can supply a great want of humanity. You will find that millions have the same wants." The golden opportunity Is never offered twice. education. "We cannot doubt. luxuries. Nor shrink aside to 'scape the spectre fear.
. facilities of all kinds for pleasure. If to use the good thou learnest. ANON. And behold the good so near. though pleasure beckon from her bower. For the distant still thou yearnest. Nor pause.CHAPTER XIV. He wants comforts." said Edward Everett. study yourself and your own wants. improve any methods which men use. He must have clothing and a dwelling. which will go as far beyond the brilliant discoveries of the last generation as these do beyond all that was known to the ancient world. supply any demand of comfort. "that truths now unknown are in reserve to reward the patience and the labors of future lovers of truth. and culture. seize then the hour When fortune smiles and duty points the way.

Go and toil in any vineyard. W. Work for the good that is nighest.
. ELLEN H. If you want a field of labor.She will never come to you. thus forever sighing. MORLEY PUNSHON. unattained and dim. stand idly waiting For some greater work to do. Fortune is a lazy goddess-. all around thee lying Offers up its low. then. Do not fear to do or dare. perpetual hymn? HARRIET WINSLOW.
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Do not.CHAPTER XIV. GATES. You can find it anywhere. While the beautiful. For the far-off. Dream not of greatness afar: That glory is ever the highest Which shines upon men as they are. Why thus longing.

--WENDELL PHILLIPS. "Scorn not the slightest word or deed.
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CHAPTER XV. life. Small sands the mountain. though it small appear." It is but the littleness of man that seeth no greatness in trifles. YOUNG. That waits its natal hour. and from the acorn. moments make the year. Little strokes fell great oaks.
. which a breeze has wafted.--BULWER. Often from our weakness our strongest principles of conduct are born.--ECCLESIASTICUS.CHAPTER XV.--FRANKLIN. He that despiseth small things shall fall by little and little. The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.
THE MIGHT OF LITTLE THINGS.--EMERSON. And trifles. Nor deem it void of power. There's fruit in each wind-wafted seed. springs the oak which defies the storm. Think naught a trifle.

glistening in the brook.--SCOTCH PROVERB. no British Empire.--NAPOLEON I. And a little bit of love makes a very happy home. A little bit of hope makes a rainy day look gay." ****** [Illustration: AGASSIZ]
. "The bad thing about a little sin is that it won't stay little. no Anglo-Norman dynasty could have arisen. of Normandy.
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Men are led by trifles.CHAPTER XV. Harold would not have fallen at Hastings." "Arletta's pretty feet. made her the mother of William the Conqueror." says Palgrave's "History of Normandy and England." "A little bit of patience often makes the sunshine come." The mother of mischief is no bigger than a midge's wing. A dewdrop on the baby plant Has warped the giant oak forever." "Had she not thus fascinated Duke Robert the Liberal. "A pebble on the streamlet scant Has turned the course of many a river. And a little bit of charity makes glad a weary way.

lest the vibration of the voice bring down an avalanche. and germs of limitless mental growth. the guides sometimes demand absolute silence. A different result at Plataea had delayed the progress of the human race more than ten centuries. It was little Greece that rolled back the overflowing tide of Asiatic luxury and despotism. whom man never saw. The tears of Veturia and Volumnia saved Rome from the Volscians when nothing else could move the vengeful heart of Coriolanus. Trifles light as air sometimes suggest to the thinking mind ideas which revolutionize the world.CHAPTER XV.
.
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Small things become great when a great soul sees them. it is said. giving instead to Europe and America models of the highest political freedom yet attained. walked to the river's edge to find their food. We tell the very path by which gigantic creatures. ****** We may tell which way the wind blew before the Deluge by marking the ripple and cupping of the rain in the petrified sand now preserved forever. Among the lofty Alps.

The man told him he had met such a man. After careful observation he started to track the thief through the woods. while the other entered successively the Fox River.CHAPTER XV. "I knew the thief was a little man. which had been hanging up to dry." said the Indian. I knew the dog was small by his tracks and short steps. and that he had a bob-tail by the mark it left in the dust where he sat. I knew he had a short gun by the mark it left on the tree where he had stood it up. Meeting a man on the route. with a short gun. were separated a few inches by a gentle breeze. Striking on opposite sides of the roof of a court-house in Wisconsin. He asked the Indian how he could give such a minute description of the man whom he had never seen. I knew he was a white man by his turning out his toes in walking. Green Bay. "because he rolled up a stone to stand on in order to reach the venison. white man. falling side by side. an Indian discovered that his venison. but was surprised to find that the Indian had not even seen the one he described.
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The power of observation in the American Indian would put many an educated man to shame. Lake Michigan. and with a small bob-tailed dog. had been stolen." Two drops of rain. which an Indian never does. Returning home. old. the Straits of
. he asked him if he had seen a little. one rolled southward through the Rock River and the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. I knew he was an old man by his short steps.

Lawrence River. There are moments in history which balance years of ordinary life. the St.
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Mackinaw. and from a single bone. Clair. A spark falling upon some combustibles led to the invention of gunpowder. St. Dana could interest a class for hours on a grain of sand. such as no one had ever seen before. Detroit River. and the stealing of a penny may end on the scaffold? Who does not know that the act of a moment may cause a life's regret? A trigger may be pulled in an instant. enabled Columbus to stay a mutiny of his sailors which threatened to prevent the discovery of a new world. Lake Erie. How slight the influence of the breeze. Clair River. Lake Huron. but the soul returns never. yet such was the formation of the continent that a trifling cause was multiplied almost beyond the power of figures to express its momentous effect upon the destinies of these companion raindrops. Lake St.CHAPTER XV. as in the case of Edmund Burke and of Thomas Carlyle. floating on the waves. Lake Ontario. Agassiz could deduce the entire structure and habits of an animal so accurately that subsequent discoveries of complete skeletons have not changed one of his conclusions. Niagara River. and finally reached the Gulf of St. Irritable tempers have marred the reputation of many a great man. Who can calculate the future of the smallest trifle when a mud crack swells to an Amazon.
. A few bits of seaweed and driftwood. Lawrence.

"Strange that a little thing like that should cause a man so much pain!" exclaimed a giant. a fish scale. as a single bone. By gnawing through a dike. or a tooth. so he held his hand over the hole for hours on a dark and dismal
. through the carelessness of the watch.
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A cricket once saved a military expedition from destruction. will enable the scientist and anatomist to reproduce the fish or the animal. although extinct for ages. Sometimes a conversation. He realized that the leak would rapidly become larger if the water was not checked. When the little insect scented the land. or a sentence in a letter. it broke its long silence by a shrill note. A little boy in Holland saw water trickling from a small hole near the bottom of a dike. or a paragraph in an article. a fin. even a rat may drown a nation. as he rolled in his hand and examined with eager curiosity the acorn which his friend the dwarf had obligingly taken from the huge eye into which it had fallen just as the colossus was on the point of shooting a bird perched in the branches of an oak. and this warned them of their danger. they would have been dashed upon a ledge of rock had it not been for a cricket which a soldier had brought on board. will help us to reproduce the whole character of the author.CHAPTER XV. and. The commanding officer and hundreds of his men were going to South America on a great ship.

CHAPTER XV. too small to be clearly seen without the aid of a magnifying-glass. A student took his microscope to examine insects.
. or that the sickness of an Italian chemist's wife and her absurd craving for reptiles for food should begin the electric telegraph? Madame Galvani noticed the contraction of the muscles of a skinned frog which was accidentally touched at the moment her husband took a spark from an electrical machine. She gave the hint which led to the discovery of galvanic electricity. Louis Pasteur was usher in the Lyceum. now so useful in the arts and in transmitting vocal or written language. This was the starting of the boy on the microscopic career which has made men wonder. M. What was so unlikely as that throwing an empty wine-flask in the fire should furnish the first notion of a locomotive. Thursdays he took the boys to walk. His name is still held in grateful remembrance in Holland. and allowed Pasteur to look through it. He was almost wild with enthusiasm at the new world which the microscope revealed.
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night until he could attract the attention of passers-by. The beetling chalk cliffs of England were built by rhizopods.

" A young man once went to India to seek his fortune. and never again to cheapen it. which they could not keep away with their handkerchiefs. that it has been said they cut short the debate.000 pounds produced the American Revolution. a war that cost 100.000. He went to the window to point it in another direction and try it again. secured to the East India Company and afterwards to Great Britain a great and rich country
. finding no opening.000 pounds. But it did not go off.CHAPTER XV. who. What mighty contests rise from trivial things! Congress met near a livery stable to discuss the Declaration of Independence. put the muzzle to his head. with but a handful of European soldiers. This young man became General Robert Clive. to make the most of it.
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A stamp act to raise 60. were so annoyed by flies. "The fate of a nation. but. in knee breeches and silk stockings. and pulled the trigger. he went to his room." says Gladstone. Trembling with excitement he resolved to hold his life sacred. loaded his pistol. He pulled the trigger and it went off the first time. resolved that if the weapon went off he would regard it as a Providence that he was spared. "has often depended upon the good or bad digestion of a fine dinner. The members. and hastened to affix their signatures to the greatest document in history.

" said Mr. The cackling of a goose aroused the sentinels and saved Rome from the Gauls. and make it necessary to stop and clear the machinery. Although this loss of time reduced the earnings of the operatives. as his machine never stopped. that they be.CHAPTER XV." Henry Ward Beecher came within one vote of being elected superintendent of a railway." said the workman." "Ay. the small fibres would stick to the bobbins. smiling. Peel one day. "Well. what shall I give you
. Could you make all the looms work as smoothly as yours?" "Ivery one of 'em." said Napoleon. Dick?" asked Mr. Peel. "How do you manage it. meester. yo'd be as wise as I am.
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with two hundred millions of people. the father of Robert Peel noticed that one of his spinners always drew full pay. Dick?" "Why. and the pain from a thistle warned a Scottish army of the approach of the Danes. "it is sort o' secret! If I tow'd ye. "but I'd give you something to know. If he had had that vote America would probably have lost its greatest preacher. Meester Peel." replied Dick. What a little thing fixes destiny! In the earliest days of cotton spinning. "Had Acre fallen." replied Dick Ferguson. "I should have changed the face of the world. "the on-looker tells me your bobbins are always clean." "That's so. you see. "How is this.

" said Mr. but the captain would not sell until a very high price was offered. which he had bought for a penny to catch mice in the garret where he slept. On arriving at Algiers. the captain learned that the Dey was greatly annoyed by rats. With the purchase-money was sent a present of valuable pearls for the owner of Tabby.
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for your secret?" asked Mr. "Gi' me a quart of ale every day as I'm in the mills. and I'll tell thee all about it. "Chalk your bobbins!" That was the whole secret. The boy had only a cat. Peel soon shot ahead of all his competitors. A poor English boy was compelled by his employer to deposit something on board a ship about to start for Algiers. in accordance with the merchant's custom of interesting employees by making them put something at risk in his business and so share in the gain or loss of each common venture. In tears. When the ship
. and Dick whispered very cautiously in his ear. and Dick replied.CHAPTER XV." "Agreed. Peel. Dick was handsomely rewarded with money instead of beer. and loaned him the cat. and Mr. His little idea has saved the world millions of dollars. he carried her on board the vessel. Peel. Trifles light as air often suggest to the thinking mind ideas which have revolutionized the world. The rats disappeared so rapidly that the Dey wished to buy the cat. for he made machines that would chalk their own bobbins.

our cat merchant was knighted. and became the second man in the city. and so on. the martyr missionary of Erromanga. he repeated the same thing there. and that second a third. A soldier offered to teach a slave to read on condition that he would teach a second. for it was part of the bargain that he was to bring back the value of his cat in goods.
. As Lord Mayor of London. from that single banana-tree. though severely flogged by the master of the plantation. and the Bible Society offered a New Testament to every negro who could read. and now. This the slave faithfully carried out.--Sir Richard Whittington. the latter became very wealthy. When John Williams. went to the South Sea Islands.
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returned the sailors were greatly astonished to find that the boy owned most of the cargo. Being sent to another plantation. he took with him a single banana-tree from an English nobleman's conservatory. bananas are to be found throughout whole groups of islands. and when at length liberty was proclaimed throughout the island. and in the course of business loaned money to the Dey who had bought the cat. The London merchant took the boy into partnership. the number taught through this slave's instrumentality was found to be no less than six hundred. Before the negro slaves in the West Indies were emancipated a regiment of British soldiers was stationed near one of the plantations.CHAPTER XV.

telling them what I had discovered. I determined to make a machine that would work accurately. and rendered homeless a hundred thousand people. That invisible fracture reduced its value thousands of dollars. and conceived the idea of thus measuring time. The report of the crown jeweler was that it was the finest he had ever seen or heard of. It was a little thing for the janitor to leave a lamp swinging in the cathedral at Pisa. "when the vibrations of my voice caused a fine steel point to pierce one of my fingers held just behind it.
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A famous ruby was offered to the English government. That's the whole story. but it laid Chicago in ashes. "I was singing to the mouthpiece of a telephone.
." said Edison. I saw no reason why the thing would not talk. The phonograph is the result of the pricking of a finger. and gave my assistants the necessary instructions. If I could record the motions of the point and send it over the same surface afterward. That set me to thinking. but in that steady swaying motion the boy Galileo saw the pendulum.CHAPTER XV." It was a little thing for a cow to kick over a lantern left in a shanty. and it was rejected from the regalia of England. but that one of the "facets" was slightly fractured.

Bentham says. The Parliament of Great Britain. "The turn of a sentence has decided many a friendship." was Mitchel's reply. some self-indulgence. picked up a stone in the Idaho mountains which led to the discovery of a rich gold mine. Some little weakness. you say. you made but one stinging remark. but they have wrecked many a career. for aught we know. A man. The web of a spider suggested to Captain Brown the idea of a suspension bridge. looking for a lost horse. Mitchel.
." The sight of a stranded cuttlefish led Cuvier to an investigation which made him one of the greatest natural historians in the world. the Congress of the United States.CHAPTER XV. An officer apologized to General O. want of decision. saying he was only a few moments late. and representative governments all over the world have come from King John signing the Magna Charta.
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You turned a cold shoulder but once. M. "I have been in the habit of calculating the value of the thousandth part of a second. and. the astronomer. a quick temper. the fate of many a kingdom. yet it lost you a friend forever. when placed beside great abilities. for a brief delay. are little things.

A single misspelled word prevented a deserving young man from obtaining a situation as instructor in a New England college. The masons would call out. brought out that muscle. given some expression to this lip. a bad temper. and perfection is no trifle."
. The absence of a comma in a bill which passed through Congress several years ago cost our government a million dollars.CHAPTER XV. "But. A cinder on the eyeball will conquer a Napoleon." said a gentleman to Michael Angelo. softened that feature.
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A missing marriage certificate kept the hod-carrier of Hugh Miller from establishing his claim to the Earldom of Crawford." Not long ago the great steamship Umbria was stopped in mid-Atlantic by a flaw in her engine shaft. etc. "I cannot see that you have made any progress since my last visit. as lack of courtesy." said the sculptor." "But they are trifles!" exclaimed the visitor. Some little weakness. "It may be so. "I have retouched this part. may nullify the labor of years. more energy to that limb. want of decision. "but trifles make perfection. bring us anither hod o' lime. "John." replied the great artist. polished that. Yearl of Crawford.

Knowledge. in letters of great size. has ever since kept pace with the march of her sister. lifting up her head for the first time among the nations of the earth. By means of a kite he established principles in the science of electricity of such broad significance that they underlie nearly all the modern applications of that science. "Effects of Gypsum. By scattering it upon a sloping field of grain so as to form.
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That infinite patience which made Michael Angelo spend a week in bringing out a muscle in a statue with more vital fidelity to truth.CHAPTER XV. Yet how simple was the thought which has borne such a rich harvest of benefit to mankind.
." Franklin brought this fertilizer into general use in America. and the monks have laid aside forever their old trade of copying books. with probably boundless possibilities of development in the future. and Liberty. up through the centuries. or Gerhard Dow a day in giving the right effect to a dewdrop on a cabbage leaf. in the land of windmills. From that day monarchies have crumbled. makes all the difference between success and failure. More than four hundred and fifty years have passed since Laurens Coster amused his children by cutting their names in the bark of trees.

tied them together with strings." It was soon learned that other rich people in Paris had bought similar copies.CHAPTER XV. Charles showed his Bible to the archbishop. So he made blocks. who was so afraid somebody would poison him that he dared eat but little. and made his servants taste of every dish of food before he ate any. they would make clear printed impressions better and more rapidly than would the pen. He looked with suspicion upon the stranger. the monarch bought it at once. and experimented with metals until he had invented the metal type. In an obscure chamber in Strasburg he printed his first book. and that it must have taken the copyist a lifetime to write it. John Gutenberg. At about this time a traveler called upon Charles VII. and wet with ink. without a blot or mistake. The king traced the book to John Faust. Coster died soon afterward. of Strasburg. who had furnished
. "Why!" exclaimed the archbishop in surprise.
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As he carved the names of his prattling children it occurred to him that if the letters were made in separate blocks. telling him that it was the finest copy in the world. but when the latter offered a beautiful copy of the Bible for only seven hundred and fifty crowns. "I bought one exactly like it a few days ago. and printed a pamphlet with the aid of a hired man. of France. but young Gutenberg kept the secret. People bought the pamphlets at a slight reduction from the price charged by the monks. supposing that the work was done in the old way.

bought a few books and some type.
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Gutenberg money to experiment with." wrote Humboldt. William Caxton. for when he was growing anxious. and told
. "Never. a London merchant who went to Holland to purchase cloth. "The Game of Chess. Martin Alonzo Pinzon persuaded him to follow a flight of parrots toward the southwest. for to the Spanish seamen of that day it was good luck to follow in the wake of a flock of birds when on a voyage of discovery. and gave a prophet to many nations. where he issued. and he only escaped burning at the stake by divulging the secret." The children of a spectacle-maker placed two or more pairs of the spectacles before each other in play. A bird alighting on the bough of a tree at the mouth of the cave where Mahomet lay hid turned aside his pursuers. in 1474. The people said that Faust must have sold himself to the devil. A flight of birds probably prevented Columbus from discovering this continent. and established a printing-office in Westminster Chapel." the first book printed in England.CHAPTER XV. The cry of the infant Moses attracted the attention of Pharaoh's daughter. and gave the Jews a lawgiver. But for his change of course Columbus would have reached the coast of Florida. "had the flight of birds more important consequences.

"Of what use is it?" people asked with a sneer. and good deeds. good wishes. Ruskin sees a poem in the rose or the lily. desperate. when Franklin told of his discovery that lightning and electricity are identical. Those that dare lose a day are dangerously prodigal." "He who waits to do a great deal of good at once.
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their father that distant objects looked larger. "will never do any. The atomic theory is the true one. He is a great man who sees great things where others see little things. "What is the use of a child?" replied Franklin. who sees the extraordinary in the ordinary. or it will do thee no good. and our whole life but a day repeated. but they are the components of millions. those that dare misspend it. a friendly letter. little kindnesses. pleasant words. "it may become a man. What is the happiness of your life made up of? Little courtesies. From this hint came the telescope." Do good with what thou hast. genial smiles. while the hod-carrier would perhaps not go a rod out of his way to see a sunset which Ruskin would feed upon for a year. Johnson. One in a million--once in a lifetime--may do a heroic action.CHAPTER XV. Every day is a little life." said Dr. Many think common fractions vulgar.
.

the biscuits.CHAPTER XV. so far as he could possibly avoid it. When the bugle sounded for the march to battle. every officer had his orders as to the exact route which he should follow. the shoes. No young girl enjoys her novel as much as I do these returns. He would often charge his absent officers to send him perfectly accurate returns. and which sealed the fate of Europe for many years. nothing to contingency. the camp kettles. even to the smallest detail. and the exact hour he was to leave. the horse fodder. Napoleon left nothing to chance. and to observe the difference between one monthly return and another.
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Napoleon was a master of trifles. Everything was planned to a nicety before he attempted to execute it. Wellington too was "great in little things. the exact day he was to arrive at a certain station. Nothing was too small for his attention." He knew no such things as trifles. To details which his inferior officers thought too microscopic for their notice he gave the most exhaustive attention. "When they are sent to me. He must know all about the provisions. and they were all to reach the point of destination at a precise moment. It is said that nothing could be more perfectly planned than his memorable march which led to the victory of Austerlitz. I give up every occupation in order to read them in detail. While other generals trusted to
." The captain who conveyed Napoleon to Elba was astonished with his familiarity with all the minute details connected with the ship.

"Lack of detail. do not answer their letters promptly or file them away accurately. their books do not quite balance. they have a contempt for details. they do not pay their bills promptly."
. and often great losses! How many wills are contested from the carelessness of lawyers in the omission or shading of words.CHAPTER XV. When asked the reason why he had become so eminent in a land of famous artists he replied. or ambiguous use of language! Physicians often fail to make a reputation through their habitual blundering. business men fail from a disregard of trifles. they go to the bank to pay a note the day after it has gone to protest. "Because I have neglected nothing. he gave his personal attention to the minutest detail." said Nicolas Poussin. carelessness in writing prescriptions. and which involved his clients in litigation. The history of many a failure could be written in three words. the great French painter." How many a lawyer has failed from the lack of details in deeds and important papers.
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subordinates. the lack of little words which seemed like surplusage. failure to give minute instruction. "My rule of conduct has been that whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. they do not know exactly how they stand. The world is full of blunderers.

and gave a nation an altered destiny. who feared not to attack the proudest monarchs in their capitols. Mites play mischief now with our meal and cheese. and the blemish would have changed the history of the world. he answered. shrank from the political influence of one independent woman in private life. Had not Scott sprained his foot his life would probably have taken a different direction. But when he found that he could not leave England he reformed his life. Had he not been detained who can tell what the history of Great Britain would have been? When one of his friends asked Scopas the Thessalian for something that could be of little use to him. was beautiful enough to spare the tip of her nose. Napoleon." It was the little foxes that spoiled the vines in Solomon's day.CHAPTER XV. Anne Boleyn's fascinating smile split the great Church of Rome in twain. having squandered all his property. Madame de Staël. it is said. "It is in these useless and superfluous things that I am rich and happy. Cromwell was about to sail for America when a law was passed prohibiting emigration. At that time he was a profligate.
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Not even Helen of Troy. and if Cleopatra's had been an inch shorter Mark Antony would never have become infatuated with her wonderful charms.
.

and Linnaeus constructs the science of botany. "presumptuous that we are! How know we what lives a single thought retained from the dust of nameless graves may have lighted to renown?" The theft of a diamond necklace from a French queen convulsed Europe. of a home. Black discovered latent heat. a foible. and mice in our pantries. pointing to an old tea tray on the table. and. and not a vice. the happiness. a Darwin extracts his law of evolution. a lens. and a prism. each trivial in itself. but in the aggregate forming a mass of evidence.
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moths with our woolens and furs. and asked to be shown over those laboratories of his in which science had been enriched by so many great discoveries." says Bulwer. An eminent foreign savant called on Dr. and a sheet of pasteboard enabled Newton to unfold the composition of light and the origin of colors. Wollaston. Most people call fretting a minor fault. "We call the large majority of human lives obscure. More than half our diseases are produced by infinitesimal creatures called microbes. on which stood
. From the careful and persistent accumulation of innumerable facts. A pan of water and two thermometers were the tools by which Dr. when the doctor took him into a little study. There is no vice except drunkenness which can so utterly destroy the peace.CHAPTER XV.

and the poor people of Austerfield and Scrooby into perpetual exile. has multiplied into food for millions. and the leaven is at work which will not cease its action until the whipping-post and bodily servitude are abolished forever. but as Pilgrims they became the founders of a mighty people. a few poems from Lowell and Whittier." "A look of vexation or a word coldly spoken. A few immortal sentences from Garrison and Phillips. and a blow-pipe. For want of a horse the rider was lost. said.CHAPTER XV. test papers. may produce long issues of regret. A cloud may hide the sun which it cannot extinguish.
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a few watch glasses. "There is my laboratory.
. driving famine from Ireland again and again." It was but a little dispute. carried to England by Sir Walter Raleigh in the sixteenth century. "For want of a nail the shoe was lost. the trigger was pulled in an instant. or a little help thoughtlessly withheld. A single potato. "Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth. It seemed a small thing to drive William Brewster. but the soul returned never." A burnt stick and a barn door served Wilkie in lieu of pencil and paper. a small balance. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. a little flash of temper. John Robinson.

such was the founding of Yale College.CHAPTER XV." "I give these books for the founding of a college in this colony. Each of the worthy fathers deposited a few books upon the table around which they were sitting." A hymn chanted by the barefooted friars in the temple of Jupiter at Rome led to the famous "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. falling like dew upon a thought." A single remark dropped by an unknown person in the street led to the successful story of "The Bread-winners.
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and all." says Byron. "so shall big things come to thee by and by asking to be done.
. "Words are things. "for want of a horse-shoe nail. perhaps millions think." such were the words of ten ministers who in the year 1700 assembled at the village of Branford a few miles east of New Haven. "and a small drop of ink." says Poor Richard." God will take care of the great things if we do not neglect the little ones. produces that which makes thousands." says a Persian proverb." "Do little things now.

little observations picked up from everywhere. two Persian monks brought a few eggs from China to Europe in a hollow cane. During the sixth century. "will do better in life than many who figured beyond him in the university. The eggs were hatched by means of heat. and at Rome the product was sold for its weight in gold. how insignificant seemed the visionary expedition of Columbus. at the request of Justinian. and Asia no longer held the monopoly of the silk business. But grand as was the triumph of Ferdinand. In comparison with Ferdinand. preparing to lead forth his magnificent army in Europe's supreme contest with the Moors. Only one hundred and ninety-two Athenians perished in the battle of Marathon. it now seems hardly worthy of mention in comparison with the wonderful achievement of the poor Genoese navigator.CHAPTER XV. about to start in three small shallops across the unknown ocean. but Europe was saved from a host which is said to have drunk rivers dry. and to have shaken the solid earth as they marched.
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"He that has a spirit of detail. For a thousand years Asia monopolized the secret of silk culture.
." The pyramid of knowledge is made up of little grains of information." says Webster.

Trifles light as air suggest to the keen observer the solution of mighty problems. for as you may see objects through small crannies or holes." said Bacon. and asked him to ride. Hogarth would make sketches of rare faces and characteristics upon his finger-nails upon the streets. until it became red hot.
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Great men are noted for their attention to trifles. to a truly great mind there are no little things. Helmholtz. Goodyear discovered how to vulcanize rubber by forgetting. This boy was George Kemp. with a little money which he had saved by great economy. Indeed.CHAPTER XV. A ship-worm boring a piece of wood suggested to Sir Isambard Brunei the idea of a tunnel under the Thames at London. while he went to an adjoining room to jot down a stray thought. Sir Walter Scott once saw a shepherd boy plodding sturdily along. Bits of glass arranged to amuse children led to the discovery of the kaleidoscope. who became so enthusiastic in his study of sculpture that he walked fifty miles and back to
. Confined in the house by typhoid fever. during an interview. Goethe once asked a monarch to excuse him. Tracks of extinct animals in the old red sandstone led Hugh Miller on and on until he became the greatest geologist of his time. bought a microscope which led him into the field of science where he became so famous. "The eye of the understanding is like the eye of the sense. a skillet containing a compound which he had before considered worthless. so you may see great axioms of nature through small and contemptible instances.

It is said that David Hume became a deist by being appointed in a debating society to take the side of infidelity. A war between France and England. called the boy back. but was refused. grew out of a quarrel as to which of two vessels should first
.--Laffitte. and. and shot it. He did not forget the kindness of Sir Walter. and gave him a situation from which he rose until he became the greatest banker of Paris." A poor boy applied for a situation at a bank in Paris. "Don't do it. As he left the door. He went home and asked his mother what it was in him that said "Don't. he picked up a pin. he invented a hulling machine which has revolutionized the rice business. Voltaire could not erase from his mind the impression of a poem on infidelity committed at the age of five. A Massachusetts soldier in the Civil War observed a bird hulling rice. when the latter died. taking its bill for a model. It was the turning point in Theodore Parker's life when he picked up a stone to throw at a turtle. Something within him said. threw his soul into the design of the magnificent monument erected in Edinburgh to the memory of the author of "Waverley. The bank president saw this.
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see a beautiful statue. costing more than a hundred thousand lives." and he didn't." and she taught him the purpose of that inward monitor which he ever after chose as his guide. The "Arabian Nights" aroused the genius of Coleridge.CHAPTER XV.

every plant. everything which comes within its range. and registers forever the slightest enunciation. or anything once passing the turnstile of any of the senses. every tree. No object the eye ever beheld. no sound however slight caught by the ear." George IV. every syllable we utter. There is a phonograph in our natures which catches.
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be served with water. however thoughtless and transient. when all other parts were strong. To-day is a book which contains everything that has
. a position of great honor and profit. and renders it immortal. and a village apothecary bled him. flower." Every life spans all that precedes it. stream. These notes may appear a thousand years hence. Guard the weak point. reproduced in our descendants.CHAPTER XV. is ever let go. restoring him to consciousness. in fact. Many a noble ship has stranded because of one defective timber. All the ages that have been are rounded up into the small space we call "To-day. mountain. The quarrel of two Indian boys over a grasshopper led to the "Grasshopper War. and packing away in the brain for future use every face. every scene upon the street. The king made him his physician. The eye is a perpetual camera imprinting upon the sensitive mental plates. in all their beautiful or terrible detail. of England fell in a fit. hill.

The strength of a chain lies in its weakest link. The millions of the past whose ashes have mingled with the dust for centuries still live in their destinies through the laws of heredity. however large and strong all the others may be. The first acorn had wrapped up in it all the oak forests on the globe. All the infinitesimals of the past are amassed into the present. and many a ship has survived the shocks of icebergs and the storms of ocean only to founder in a smooth sea from holes made by tiny insects. Nothing has ever been lost." seems to be one of the great laws of nature. All life comes from microscopic beginnings. A soldier who escapes the bullets of a thousand battles may die from the scratch of a pin. "Least of all seeds. greatest of all harvests. The microscope reveals as great a world below as the telescope above. and a single drop of water is a miniature ocean. Drop by drop
. Yet it is our greatest weakness which measures our real strength. We are all inclined to be proud of our strong points. In nature there is nothing small. All of nature's laws govern the smallest atoms.
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transpired in the world up to the present moment.CHAPTER XV. while we are sensitive and neglectful of our weaknesses.

And. The noble or heroic act of one man has sometimes elevated a nation. It is the little rift within the lute. these odd moments. it's only ten minutes. "Oh.
. or encouraging word. Has lifted many a burden no other gift could have stirred. it is just in these little spare bits of time. till dinner time.
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is instilled into the mind the poison which blasts many a precious life. which most people throw away. TENNYSON. ever widening. But it spread the morning's glory Over the livelong day. that men who have risen have gained their education. Many an honorable career has resulted from a kind word spoken in season or the warm grasp of a friendly hand. written their books. or twenty minutes. How often do we hear people say. slowly silence all." "Only a thought in passing--a smile. "It was only a glad 'good-morning.' As she passed along the way.CHAPTER XV. Small things become great when a great soul sees them. and made themselves immortal." or use other expressions of a like effect? Why. there's no use doing anything. That by and by will make the music mute.

CHAPTER XV."
.
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Only!--But then the onlys Make up the mighty all.

" The bravest trophy ever man obtained Is that which o'er himself himself hath gained. and without that the conqueror is naught but the veriest slave. Real glory springs from the conquest of ourselves. in my heart of heart.
.--ODYSSEY.--power of will and power of self-restraint. It requires two things. "Self-reverence.--F. for its existence. Whatever day makes man a slave takes half his worth away. ay.--THOMSON. EARL OF STIRLING. Strength of character consists of two things.CHAPTER XVI. Give me that man That is not passion's slave. SHAKESPEARE. ROBERTSON. and I will wear him In my heart's core. These three alone lead life to sovereign power. self-control.--strong feelings and strong command over them. self-knowledge. W. therefore.
SELF-MASTERY.
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CHAPTER XVI.

Then he went calmly to work to reproduce them. He who reigns within himself. desires." said Sir Isaac Newton. "Ah! Diamond.--BIBLE. Self-trust is of the essence of heroism. Man who man would be Must rule the empire of himself. which lay in ashes before him. B.
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Chain up the unruly legion of thy breast. The man who thus excelled in self-mastery surpassed all his predecessors and contemporaries in mastering the laws of nature. and fears. you little know the mischief you have wrought. P. Lead thine own captivity captive.CHAPTER XVI.--THOMAS BROWNE. and rules passions.--EMERSON. and be Caesar within thyself. is more than a king. ****** [Illustration: JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL]
. SHELLEY. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty: and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.--MILTON. returning from supper to find that his dog had upset a lighted taper upon the laborious calculations of years.

like freeborn gladiators. Each had to take this oath: "We swear that we will suffer ourselves to be bound. and said. and saw that it was quite dark without. The man's anger knew no bounds. And the vanquished ills that we hourly meet. or killed by the sword." Is any argument needed to show the superiority of Pericles? The gladiators who were trained to tight in the Coliseum were compelled to practice the most graceful postures of falling and the finest attitudes to assume in dying. in case they were vanquished. "Bring a lamp and attend this man home. or whatever Eumolpus ordains. when Pericles calmly called a servant. They were obliged to eat food which would make the blood thick in order that they should not die quickly when wounded. we religiously devote both our souls
. burned. thus giving the spectators prolonged gratification by the spectacle of their agonies. He vented his spite in violent language until he paused from sheer exhaustion. By what we have mastered of good or gain: By the pride deposed and the passion slain. He turned to go home. scourged.CHAPTER XVI." ****** The sun was high in the heavens when a man called at the house of Pericles to abuse him.
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"We rise by the things that are under our feet. and thus.

reckless American youth. Was the conquest of self. from the penalties incurred in a drunken debauch.--pale. alas. Poe."
. in the battle of sin. ragged. The American Minister at St. yet he died in moral poverty. Petersburg. This was a soldier's epitaph:-"Here lies a soldier whom all must applaud. and behold. the youth who had taken both prizes was that same dissolute. that fatal bottle! his mind was stored with riches.
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and our bodies to our master. By the Minister's aid young Poe returned to the United States." They were trained to exercise sublime self-control even when dying a cruel death. with no stockings.CHAPTER XVI. penniless. Who fought many battles at home and abroad! But the hottest engagement he ever was in. orphan youth. dissolute. who had been arrested in St. Petersburg was summoned one morning to save a young. reckless. But. and with his threadbare but well brushed coat buttoned to the chin to conceal the lack of a shirt. Young Poe took fresh courage and resolution. and for a while showed that he was superior to the appetite which was striving to drag him down. Not long after this the author of the best story and poem competed for in the "Baltimore Visitor" was sent for.

" says Plato. and instances will be as rare in one case as the other.CHAPTER XVI. "is for a man to conquer himself." Burns exercised no control over his appetites." "The first and best of victories. to notify him of his nomination as President. when a committee visited Abraham Lincoln at his home in Springfield. Ill. "that they might drink each other's health in the best beverage God ever gave to man. he ordered a pitcher of water and glasses. Let a man yield to his impulses and passions. to be conquered by himself is.." Self-control is at the root of all the virtues. of all things. the most shameful and vile." says Walter Scott. "and you create for the world a destiny more sublime than ever issued from the brain of the wildest
. but gave them the rein:-"Thus thoughtless follies laid him low And stained his name." he continued.
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In 1860. "make it as unfashionable to withhold our names from the temperance pledge as for husbands to wear their wives' bonnets in church. and from that moment he gives up his moral freedom." "Let us. "Teach self-denial and make its practice pleasurable.

It is a good plan to form the habit of ranking our various qualities.
." Stonewall Jackson. he always sought his bed on the minute. So determined was he to harden himself to the weather that he could not be induced to wear an overcoat in winter. A man's industry. mental. his moral courage. one hundred. in order to make the lowest mark more apparent.
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dreamer. marking our strongest point one hundred and all the others in proportion. physical. his physical courage may be fifty. It is equal to genius itself. For a year. no matter where he was. This was while he was professor at the Virginia Military Institute. such self-conquest. early in life." he said. His doctor advised him to retire at nine o'clock. "I will not give in to the cold. for example. and wore a wet shirt next his body because his doctor advised it. his temper. Such self-training. and enabling us to try to raise or strengthen it. on account of dyspepsia. may be his strongest point. He adhered rigidly through life to this stern system of discipline. or who was present. seventy-five. he lived on buttermilk and stale bread. determined to conquer every weakness he had. although everybody else ridiculed the idea. gives one great power over others. To his great self-discipline and self-mastery he owed his success. and moral. He held all of his powers with a firm hand. and.CHAPTER XVI.

You will find this a great aid to character building. cross where you should have been cheerful. It would take but two or three minutes a day to rank ourselves in such a table by noting the exercise of each faculty for the day. if you have taken the advantage where you should have been fair. so indicate by your marks. impatient where you should have been patient. in consequence. indicate it by a low mark. He should strive in every way to raise it from one of the weakest qualities to one of the strongest. the Egyptian symbol of the mysteriousness of Nature. and.CHAPTER XVI. If you have been cowardly where you should have been brave. lost your self-control.--which. have been unjust where you should have been just. if you have prevaricated where you should have told the exact truth. if he has strong appetites and passions. foolish where you should have been wise. If you have been irritable. If you have worked hard and faithfully. tardy where you should have been prompt. and made a fool of yourself. This will be an incentive to try to raise it the next day. If you have lost your temper. with but ten for self-control. It is a subtle and profound remark of Hegel's that the riddle which the Sphinx. indicate it by a corresponding mark.
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twenty-five. hesitating where you should have shown decision. propounds to Oedipus is only
. false where you should have been true. mark industry one hundred. and redeem yourself on the morrow. will be likely to be the rock on which he will split.

and I thought if I could control my voice I should repress my passion. and replied: "Friend.CHAPTER XVI.
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another way of expressing the command of the Delphic oracle. Moral contagion borrows fully half its strength from the weakness of its victims. the mysteriousness of Nature and her terrors vanish. and by a careful observance of this rule. I observed that men in a passion always speak loud. I have. Add to it its natural complement--Help thyself--and the path to success is open to those who obey. I have therefore made it a rule never to let my voice rise above a certain key. passionate temper? If so. like a rat-hole in a dam." And when the answer is given the Sphinx casts herself down from her rock. by the blessing of God. I will tell thee. Have you a hot. a moment's outbreak. entirely mastered my natural
. When man knows himself. A Quaker was asked by a merchant whom he had conquered by his patience how he had been able to bear the other's abuse. "Know thyself. A single angry word has lost many a friend. I was naturally as hot and violent as thou art. Guard your weak point. The command by the ancient oracle at Delphos is of eternal significance. may flood all the work of years. One angry word sometimes raises a storm that time itself cannot allay.

after lying years in dungeons of the Inquisition." says Pythagoras." "Be calm in arguing. Christmas of the Bank of England explains that the secret of his self-control under very trying circumstances was due to a rule learned from the great Pitt. without light. a distinguished Spanish poet. "anger is not argument." "Keep cool. in opposition to the motions of his displeasure. If you are conscious of being in a passion. De Leon. Fits of anger bring fits of disease. out of
." says Webster. dreary. never to lose his temper during banking hours from nine to three. When Socrates found in himself any disposition to anger. Many a person has dropped dead in a rage. "Anger.CHAPTER XVI. was released and restored to his professorship. "begins with folly and ends with repentance." Mr." says George Herbert." To be angry with a weak man is to prove that you are not strong yourself. "Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad. lest you increase it. and alone. and truth discourtesy." You must measure the strength of a man by the power of the feelings he subdues.
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tongue. not by the power of those which subdue him. A great crowd thronged to hear his first lecture. he would check it by speaking low. "for fierceness makes error a fault. keep your mouth shut. for translating part of the Scriptures into his native tongue.

"He who. with strong passions. with manly power of indignation in him. remains chaste. with the words "Heri discebamus" (Yesterday we were teaching). What sublime self-control for a quick-tempered man! "You ask whether it would not be manly to resent a great injury. What a lesson in this remarkable example of self-control for those who allow their tongues to jabber whatever happens to be uppermost in their minds! Did you ever see a man receive a flagrant insult.--these are strong men. can be provoked. who struck him in anger. and yet restrain himself and forgive. But the great man merely resumed the lecture which had been so cruelly broken off five years before. keenly sensitive.CHAPTER XVI." said Eardley Wilmot: "I answer that it would be
. the spiritual heroes.
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curiosity to learn what he might say about his imprisonment. he who. just where he left it. and only grow a little pale. bite his quivering lip." said young Michael Angelo to the man Torrigiano. and then reply quietly? Did you ever see a man in anguish stand as if carved out of solid rock. mastering himself? Have you not seen one bearing a hopeless daily trial remain silent and never tell the world what cankered his home peace? That is strength." "You will be remembered only as the man who broke my nose.

rushed upon Admiral Le Fort with a sword. "but he is a wise man who will not. and afterwards he asked the pardon of Le Fort." The same monarch. who took to his bed and died." Peter the Great made a law in 1722 that a nobleman who should beat his slave should be regarded as insane. and a guardian appointed to look after his property and person. "He is a fool who cannot be angry. with great self-possession. A medical authority of highest repute affirms that excessive labor. exclaimed with tears in his eyes. Le Fort. Peter. when drunk. exposure to wet and cold. "Alas! I have civilized my own subjects.CHAPTER XVI. I have conquered other nations. "I am trying to reform my country. Peter said. This sobered Peter. and maintain an indignant silence amid reproaches and accusations and sneers and scoffs. hearing of this. yet have I not been able to civilize or conquer myself." says English." That man has conquered his tongue who can allow the ribald jest or scurrilous word to die unspoken on his lips.
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manly to resent it. This great monarch once struck his gardener. and I am not yet able to reform myself. deprivation of sufficient quantities of necessary and wholesome food. but it would be Godlike to forgive it. bared his breast to receive the stroke. habitual bad
." Self-conquest is man's last and greatest victory.

and regularity in the pursuits of peace. receiving sentence of death. undisturbed. It is a great thing to have brains. but it is vastly greater to be able to command them. each soldier being distinguished from his neighbors only by his superior diligence. but they are none of them so bad as violent and ungoverned passion. but that instances are very rare where people of irascible tempers live to extreme old age. It was the self-discipline of a man who had never looked upon war until he was forty that enabled Oliver Cromwell to create an army which never fought without annihilating. sobriety. intrepid. are all deadly enemies to human life. sloth and intemperance. Socrates was still calm.--that men and women have frequently lived to an advanced age in spite of these. The Duke of Wellington had
. yet which retired into the ranks of industry as soon as the government was established. or swallowing the poison. quiet. How sweet the serenity of habitual self-command! When does a man feel more a master of himself than when he has passed through a sudden and severe provocation in silence or in undisturbed good humor? Whether teaching the rules of an exact morality. answering his corrupt judges.
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lodging.CHAPTER XVI.

CHAPTER XVI. having made his arrangements for the terrible conflict of the next day (Jena and Auerstadt). "He that would govern others first should be The master of himself. Self-control is the generalship which turns a mob of raw recruits into a disciplined army. greater than his speech. and you command everybody. will be stronger than his passion. in other words. higher than his calling. and knows how to use
. He remained at the Duchess of Richmond's ball till about three o'clock on the morning of the 16th of June." says St. although his natural temper was extremely irritable. the man has got control of himself." says Massinger. The rough man has become the polished and dignified soldier. superior to circumstances.
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great power over himself. Napoleon. and calmly sat down to draw up a plan of study and discipline for Madame Campan's female school. Just. retired to his tent about midnight. who is his own Caesar. He who has mastered himself." although he knew that a desperate battle was awaiting him. "showing himself very cheerful. On the field of Waterloo he gave his orders at the most critical moments without the slightest excitement. 1815. "Keep cool.

no power to govern himself. disappointments. not at the mercy of circumstances. If a man lacks self-control he seems to lack everything. difficulties. Our occupations. The man of great self-control. but will keep in advance of his work. and yet give him leisure for self-culture. he can have no self-reliance.CHAPTER XVI. He will not rob his family of that which is worth more than money or position. His methods and system will enable him to accomplish wonders. he will not be the slave of his occupation. If he lacks self-control. carries a thousand times more weight than the man of weak will. who is self-centred. and nerve of character are lacking also. the man who thinks a great deal and says little. Without it he can have no patience. The discipline which is the main end in education is simply control acquired over one's mental faculties. if used aright. always wavering and undecided. The man who is master of himself will not be a slave to drudgery. the very backbone. obstacles.
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himself. without this
. are the great schoolmasters which help us to possess ourselves. well balanced. pith. for he will always be at the mercy of his strongest passion. The human race is under constant drill. The man who controls himself works to live rather than lives for work.

industry. without this. Xanthippe. and. he went out and sat before the door. and. drilled. "that you can control yourself. at which he only laughed and said that "so much thunder must needs produce a shower." Alcibiades his friend. "I have so accustomed myself to expect it. They may be weak in the link of truthfulness. He who would succeed must hold all his faculties under perfect control. she ran upstairs and emptied a vessel upon his head. all other education is good for next to nothing. Oliphant." says Mrs. At one time. and I'll say you're an educated man. was a woman of a most fantastical and furious spirit. He replied. or may have some other weakness which wrecks their success and thwarts a life's endeavor. until they obey the will. temperance.CHAPTER XVI. trustworthiness." How many men have in their chain of character one weak link. politeness. told him he wondered how he could bear such an everlasting scold in the same house with him.
. they must be disciplined. temper. in the excess of her rage. "Prove to me." The wife of Socrates. having vented all the reproaches upon Socrates her fury could suggest. that it now offends me no more than the noise of carriages in the street. courage. His calm and unconcerned behavior but irritated her so much the more.
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discipline no man is a strong and accurate thinker. chastity. talking with him about his wife.

but a hard master. it is the weakest point that measures the strength of character. as a foundation for his other talents. He cannot lead who is led.
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Think of a young man just starting out in life to conquer the world being at the mercy of his own appetites and passions! He cannot stand up and look the world in the face when he is the slave of what should be his own servants." If you cannot at first control your anger. There is many a man whose tongue might govern multitudes if he could only govern his tongue. which. If he has mastered all but one appetite. Seneca. or weakness. learn to control your tongue. Anger. is a good servant. hides us from ourselves. said that "we should every night call ourselves to account. There is nothing which gives certainty and direction to the life of a man who is not his own master. perhaps the greatest strategist of this century. the
. but exposes us to others. General von Moltke. What infirmity have I mastered to-day? what passion opposed? what temptation resisted? what virtue acquired?" and then he follows with the profound truth that "our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift. like too much wine. he is still a slave.CHAPTER XVI. like fire. one of the greatest of the ancient philosophers. passion. Five words cost Zacharias forty weeks' silence. had.

On being introduced. "I must teach you two sciences: the one how to hold your tongue." The first is the more difficult. is remembered." when you will be calm. "Because. once uttered. for you will be almost certain to say too much. is. "Why charge me double?" asked the young fellow. or a servant unreasonable. and self-controlled. which may burn like a blistering wound. But why put into the shape of speech the annoyance which. Do not speak while you feel the impulse of anger. when the nerves are exhausted. or rankle like a poisoned arrow? If a child be crying or a friend capricious. be careful what you say. Half the actual trouble of life would be saved if people would remember that silence is golden." A young man went to Socrates to learn oratory. rested." said the orator. to say more than your cooler judgment will approve. or annoyed. To feel provoked or exasperated at a trifle. Be silent until the "sweet by and by."
. natural to us in our imperfect state.CHAPTER XVI. vexed.
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power to "hold his tongue in seven languages. when they are irritated. he talked so incessantly that Socrates asked for double fees. perhaps. and to speak in a way that you will regret. the other how to speak. "Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? There is more hope of a fool than of him.

as Emerson truly says." Xenophon tells us that at one time the Persian princes had for their teachers the four best men in the kingdom. Lawson's study. or envy. The presumption is that he is a superior man. "Presence of mind and courage in distress are more than armies to procure success. running into Dr." said the preoccupied professor. The self-controlled are self-possessed.CHAPTER XVI. and carried a pair of andirons several rods to a safe place beside a stone wall. (2) The bravest to teach courage." In rhetoric. in point of fact. "Everything tells in favor of the man who talks but little. "Go and tell your mistress. he is not a sheer blockhead. the presumption then is that he is very superior indeed. (4) The most temperate to teach self-control. "you know I have no charge of household matters." A woman whose house was on fire threw a looking-glass out of the window. "Sir.
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"Silence. "is the safest response for all the contradiction that arises from impertinence." says Zimmerman." Grant was master of the science of silence. this art of omission is the chief secret of power. (3) The most just to train the moral nature. without looking up from the book he was reading. (1) The wisest man to teach wisdom. vulgarity. the house is on fire!" shrieked a frightened servant. and if. We have them all
.

The drunken man has given up the reins of his nature to a fool or a fiend. at a temperance meeting. quicker than almost any other physical agency. compared with the moral injury it produces. drink away their honor. an example. John B.CHAPTER XVI. which is the invariable accompaniment of intoxication. do it for your own sake. and he is driven fast to base or unutterably foolish ends." said Samuel J. With almost palsied hand. Gough signed the pledge. But the physical evils of intemperance. are slight. "do it for the sake of others. and money in glasses of "wet damnation. Experience shows that. almost dying. he crawled into the sunlight. if it is a great sacrifice. which had
. It is not simply that vices and crimes almost inevitably follow the loss of rational self-direction." How many of nature's noblemen.
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in the Bible. manhood is lowered and finally lost by the sensual tyranny of appetite." more costly than the vinegar in which Cleopatra dissolved her pearls. Weak. but he had conquered the demon. alcohol breaks down a man's power of self-control. without a mouthful of food. For six days and nights in a wretched garret. and in Christ our teacher. who might be kings if they could control themselves. reputation. May. with scarcely a moment's sleep. he fought the fearful battle with appetite. famished. "If it is a small sacrifice to discontinue the use of wine. great as they are.

or half demon. and the mental faculties are a mere mob of enfeebled powers under bondage to a bestial or mad tyrant. "You are a weed. will not only grow monstrous and despotic. He would chew camomile. He wanted a chew awfully. it was only the beginning of it. the silent. toothpicks. but it was of no use. and said that was the end of it. He bought another plug of tobacco and put it in his pocket. He threw away what he had. As Challis says:--
.CHAPTER XVI. The victim of strong drink is one of the most pitiable creatures on earth. the spiritual nature is sunk in the mire of sensuality. like a ghastly Frankenstein. but artificial appetites will be created which. the flesh is master. gentian. and I am a man. he becomes half beast. What a mute confession of degradation there is in the very appearance of a confirmed sot. and will mock his efforts to free himself from this slavery. and then turn on their creator to torment him without pity. Natural appetites. develop a kind of independent life and force. if given rein. while carrying it in his pocket daily. suffering tongues that whisper "Don't. Gough used to describe the struggles of a man who tried to leave off using tobacco." and he did. but no. I'll master you if I die for it. Oh. Behold a man no longer in possession of himself.
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almost killed him." but the will lies prostrate. and the debauch goes on. but he looked at it and said.

William the Silent. Washington. for ecstasy is as fatal as despair. so is caprice. Stephen Girard. Controlled temper is an element of strength. his steadfast will conquers despondency. and is not unbalanced by transient exhilarations. were the best workers. Temper is subjected to reason and conscience. just as heat in an engine is transmuted into force that drives the wheels of industry. but they were also men whose self-control was nearly perfect." Many persons are intemperate in their feelings. taught self-control. turning its very heat and passion into energy that works good instead of evil. There is an intemperance even in melancholy and mirth.CHAPTER XVI. Faraday.
. was glad to employ him. wisely regulated. Peace and hope and gladness Dwell there nevermore. Wordsworth. The temperate man is not mastered by his moods. He believed that such persons. when he heard of a clerk with a strong temper. How many people excuse themselves for doing wrong or foolish acts by the plea that they have a quick temper. But he who is king of himself rules his temper. Stands within the door.
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"Once the demon enters. and Wellington were men of prodigious tempers. it expends itself as energy in work. Passion is intemperance. he will not be driven or enticed into excess. Cromwell. they are emotionally prodigal.

self-control. "which jealously guards its intellectual rights and powers. He had in his composition a calm which was a balance-wheel. How brilliantly could Carlyle write of heroism. owed allegiance to reason. which receives new truth as an angel from
. and enabled him to excel in patience. his impetuous and massive will was held in check by consummate judgment. and which gave him in moments of highest excitement the power of self-control. and freedom is power.
453
George Washington's faculties were so well balanced and combined that his constitution was tempered evenly with all the elements of activity. His passions.CHAPTER XVI. and with all the fiery quickness of his spirit. courage. It was said by an enemy of William the Silent that an arrogant or indiscreet word never fell from his lips. "I call that mind free. which does not content itself with a passive or hereditary faith." says Channing. and yet fly into a rage at a rooster crowing in a neighbor's yard. A self-controlled mind is a free mind. which had the intensest vigor. which opens itself to light whencesoever it may come. which calls no man master. even when he had most cause for disgust. and his mind resembled a well organized commonwealth.

I call that mind free which resists the bondage of habit. listens for new and higher monitions of conscience. I call that mind free which is not passively framed by outward circumstances. which does not enslave itself to precise rules. and uses instructions from abroad. whilst consulting others. but which bends events to its own improvement. which is not the creature of accidental impulse. which guards its empire over itself as nobler than the
. which respects a higher law than fashion.
454
heaven. which no menace or peril can enthrall. but to quicken and exalt its own energies. which feels itself accountable to a higher tribunal than man's. inquires still more of the oracle within itself. and possesses itself though all else be lost. I call that mind free which protects itself against the usurpations of society. and acts from an inward spring. from immutable principles which it has deliberately espoused. not to supersede. which respects itself too much to be the slave or tool of the many or the few. which is not swept away by the torrent of events. which guards itself from being merged in others. which does not live on its old virtues. I call that mind free which is jealous of its own freedom. and rejoices to pour itself forth in fresh and higher exertions.CHAPTER XVI. which. but which forgets what is behind. I call that mind free which through confidence in God and in the power of virtue has cast off all fear but that of wrong-doing. which does not cower to human opinion. which does not mechanically repeat itself and copy the past. which is calm in the midst of tumults.

It is the God-side of man. Be free. and is led by only one motive." says La Rochefoucauld. it lies quiet and peaceful as a lamb. the immortal side. the true. You cannot
.CHAPTER XVI. it knows but one law. it grovels. Every human being is conscious of two natures. "we should also have the management of them. You cannot reason with it. and we sometimes think it subdued. regain The rule o'er chance. circumstance. Like the beast. self-gratification." No man can call himself educated until every voluntary muscle obeys his will. the image of the Creator. it clamors for satisfaction. It does not aspire. "It is not enough to have great qualities. But when its imperious passion accumulates. only an imperious instinct for gratification.--is aspiring after all that uplifts. elevates.
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empire of the world. and purifies. or when gorged and sated by over-indulgence. it wallows in the mire of sensualism. EPHRAIM PEABODY. self-indulgence. The other is the bestial side which gravitates downward. One is ever reaching up after the good. When neither hungry nor thirsty." Be free--not chiefly from the iron chain But from the one which passion forges--be The master of thyself. and the noble. If lost. the spiritual side. for it has no reason. sense. It is the gravitation of the soul faculties toward their Maker.

for the spiritual. and robs him of the expected pleasure. he thinks he would be content to remain a brute. He has sold his better self for pleasure which is poison. if he could only hush the voice which haunts him and condemns him when he is bound in slavery. to wallow in the mire of sensual indulgence. It cares nothing for character. even when dragged through the slough of sensualism. The higher nature may be compelled to grovel. but the vanquished never submits. but it always rebels and enters its protest. Nor do they ever become reconciled. and he cannot lose the consciousness of the fearful sacrifice he has made. The banquet may be ready. one pulling heavenward. the other. if he could only enjoy his indulgences without the mockery of remorse. earthward. The still small voice which bids man look up is never quite hushed. for manliness. Either may conquer. Rules little
. These two natures are ever at war.CHAPTER XVI. Which sways the weakness of the hour. It can never forget that it bears the image of its Maker.
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appeal to its self-respect. superior power. That conquest over fate. for it has none. But the ghost of his better self rises as he is about to partake of his delight. but the hand on the wall is writing his doom. if he could only erase the image of his Maker. If the victim of the lower nature could only forget that he was born to look upward. Give me that soul.

pressed with wild passions." End of Project Gutenberg's Architects of Fate. attend--whether thy soul Soars fancy's flights above the pole. But in ourselves are triumph and defeat.--CARLYLE. In low pursuits: Know prudent. and thou thy slave: in iron bands Thy servile spirit. I have only one counsel for you--Be master. The king is the man who can. Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng. BURNS.--NAPOLEON. Or darkly grubs this earthly hole. not thyself. PHINEAS FLETCHER. CHARLES SWAIN.
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things as great: That lulls the human waves of strife With words and feelings kind. cautious self-control Is wisdom's root. And makes the trials of our life The triumphs of our mind. raves. who dream'st thy honor stands In ruling others. Wouldst thou live honored?--clip ambition's wing: To reason's yoke thy furious passions bring: Thrice noble is the man who of himself is king. Thy slaves Serve thee.CHAPTER XVI. by Orison Swett Marden
. silly man. Reader. Ah. "Not in the clamor of the crowded street.

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